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Genomic surveillance elucidates Ebola virus origin and transmission during the 2014 outbreak

29.09.2014 | Communications assistant Karen Bech

Dato fre 03 okt
Tid 11:00 12:00
Sted The Large Anatomy Auditorium (building 1232, room 115), Aarhus University, Wilhelm Meyers Allé, 8000 Aarhus C

Joint DANDRITE & iSEQ Seminar - 3 October 2014


Seminar on "Genomic surveillance elucidates Ebola virus origin and transmission during the 2014 outbreak"

By Kristian Andersen
Harvard University, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

When: Friday 3 October 2014 at 11:00-12:00 (followed by sandwich lunch in the ground area - please sign up, see below)
Where: The Large Anatomy Auditorium (building 1232, room 115), Aarhus University, Wilhelm Meyers Allé, 8000 Aarhus C

This is a joint seminar with the Centre for Integrative Sequencing (iSEQ), Aarhus University.

Speaker host: Prof. Poul Nissen, DANDRITE.
If you wish to meet with speaker Kristian Andersen during his visit, please contact the host or the speaker directly.


Abstract
In its largest outbreak, Ebola virus disease is spreading through Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal with thousands of people infected.
Our group sequenced 99 Ebola virus genomes from 78 patients in Sierra Leone to high depth of coverage. We found that the virus rapidly accumulates mutations inter- and intra-host, and we characterized patterns of viral transmission over the initial weeks of the epidemic. The West African variant likely diverged from central African lineages around 2004, crossed from Guinea to Sierra Leone in May 2014, and has exhibited sustained human-to-human transmission subsequently, with no evidence of additional zoonotic sources. Because many of the mutations alter protein sequences and other biologically meaningful targets, continued sequence-based monitoring as the outbreak progresses is critical to understand the impact of viral evolution on diagnostics, vaccines, and therapies.

Links:
politiken.dk/viden/ECE2387911/ebola-jagten-paa-patient-zero-i-sierra-leone/
www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2014/08/27/science.1259657.full

Offentligheden/Pressen
Tags: Ebola