The Dhaka University authorities have announced that efforts were underway to decode genome sequences of 100 different Covid-19 patients from selected areas of the country.
A project has been taken up for genome sequencing of Sars-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19, by the Corona Response Technical Committee of the university.
Alumni of the DU biochemistry and molecular biology department across the globe have promised to bear the expenses of the initial stage of the decoding of 100 samples or viruses.
Dr Sharif Akhtaruzzaman, Professor of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology at DU and chief of the committee, made the announcement at a views exchange meeting at the Centre for Advanced Research in Science (CARS) of the university.
He said the team would conduct the decoding as per instructions of UGC Professor and former vice-chancellor of Jahanirnagar University Dr M Anwar Hossain.
If the university gets sufficient funds in the future, the team will be ready to decode thousands of samples of the Covid-19 positive patients through varying different samples in the secondary stage of the initiative.
The entire process may cost around Tk1 crore, although the DU authorities are only ready for the first stage, Sharif said on Thursday. He urged the authorities concerned and public and private organizations to fund their project.
Meanwhile, Sharif also let it be known that 74 countries, including the US with almost 1,000 decoded sequences, had shared data, in a research initiative titled Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) conducted by the Germany-based Max Planck Institute for Informatics.
“For the initial stage of decoding, DU scientists have the reagents to conduct the research but need to import more for the secondary stage of the project,” Sharif said in response to a query by a journalist.
He said: “The sampling will be done by using the biometric identification of the people across the country.”
View exchange meeting, held in the Centre for Advanced Research in Science (CARS) building
“We are thinking that this virus will be eradicated from the country permanently, but it is not going to happen if we do not decode its different strains. It will also help in the prescription of a proper dose of vaccines and drugs,” he said.
“The vaccine development procedure needs to undergo six methodologies and genome sequencing will help in this matter,” Sharif added.
Sounding frustrated, he said: “When we take an initiative to conduct some important research, we have experienced that many government organizations do not come forward. The practice of science in our country is stuck in a bureaucratic tangle.”
“We need to sequence a huge number of samples to know the condition of mutation. The detection of genome mutation will provide a better understanding and necessary measures can be taken then to tackle the spread of the virus in Bangladesh,” said Dr Haseena Khan, who earlier led the team of sequencing the Tenualosa ilisha (Ilish fish) genome.
Dr Zeba Islam Seraj, chairperson of the biochemistry and molecular biology department, sought help to manage funds as the research was quite expensive.
The sequencing will be done in the laboratories of three departments: biochemistry and molecular biology, genetic engineering and biotechnology, and microbiology under the biological science faculty.
Earlier, eight researchers at the Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF), led by Dr Senjuti Saha and her father, eminent microbiologist Dr Samir Kumar Saha, completed the genome sequence for the novel coronavirus, Sars-Cov2, for the first time in Bangladesh, which may help to trace the origins of infections in the country.
This research was conducted at the initiative of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Chan Zuckerberg Biohub.
Dr Samir Saha and Senjuti Saha identified nine new mutations in the virus present in Bangladesh.
When his attention was drawn to the first research, Prof Sharif Akhtaruzzaman told reporters: “They have done the decoding for only one virus. We cannot know the proper mutation of this deadly virus without extensive genome sequencing.”
Microbiology chairperson Prof Sabita Rezwana Rahman, genetic engineering and biotechnology department chairman Dr Mohammed Nazmul Ahsan and CARS director Prof MA Malek spoke on the occasion.
