In these unprecedented times, the science community has increasingly mobilized towards the development of effective treatments for COVID-19. Our best chances of rapid progress will come from everyone pooling efforts and resources across the broader scientific community. The C3G team is currently working on some of COVID-19 related initiatives, listed below.

McGill Genome Centre fosters partnership between Canada and UK on COVID genomic research

Over the last weeks, the McGill Genome Centre has established a partnership with the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium to work together to share knowledge and protocols. The Centre is pleased to announce that the partnership has now been extended to the newly formed Canadian COVID Genomics Network (CanCOGeN) as it launches a national sequencing network to monitor the pandemic’s development.

Results of MI4 Emergency COVID-19
Research Funding (Round 2)

The McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4) is pleased to announce funding for an additional 20 projects in Round 2 of the MI4 Emergency COVID-19 Research Funding (ECRF) program. This brings the total number of ECRF projects funded to date to 36, with a total allocation of nearly $3 million in direct research funding. Also, as part of Round 2 of the ECRF program, MI4 is pleased to provide $67,000 in matching support towards the Internal McGill COVID-19 Rapid Response for Social Sciences and Humanities competition led by the Office of the Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation) (VPRI). Through this competition an additional 12 projects have been funded.

New partnership to unravel genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in Quebec

The Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) and the McGill Genome Centre today announced they will partner to sequence the viral genomes of Quebec patients with COVID-19 disease. The collaboration, termed “Coronavirus Sequencing in Quebec,” (CoVSeQ) is led by Profs Sandrine Moreira, Hugues Charest and Michel Roger at the Laboratoire de santé publique du Québec (LSPQ) of the INSPQ. The viral samples are taken from a Quebec viral biobank, termed the CoVBanQ, which is hosted in LSPQ. At McGill, cutting edge technology sequencing is led by Prof. Ioannis Ragoussis, with Prof. Guillaume Bourque and his informatics team at the Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics (C3G)

COVID-19 Resources Canada

C3G has been part of a group of volunteer researchers, students, activists and web developers, led by Guillaume Bourque of McGill University and Tara Moriarty of the University of Toronto, who created COVID-19 Resources Canada a website to facilitate the sharing of information, expertise and resources in the fight against COVID-19. The group aims to “Serve as a reliable source of information and expertise for COVID-19 research in Canada; Support & facilitate coordination of Canadian COVID-19 research efforts; Support COVID-19 capacity-building in public health, research and grassroots initiatives.” The initiatives include a database of volunteers, a tool for sharing reagents used by clinicians and researchers; a compilation of all active Canadian research into COVID-19 and funding opportunities, among others.