Kári Stefánsson

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Scientists are trying to figure out why coronavirus can affect people in such different ways

A huge stock of DNA is used to investigate why the severity of the Symptoms of coronavirus varies so much.

UK Biobank contains samples from 500,000 volunteers, as well as detailed information about your Health - is to add Covid-19-Data .

It is to explain could hope for genetic differences, why Some People with no underlying Health conditions may be a severe Disease .

More Than 15,000 Scientists from around The World have access to UK Biobank.

Professor Rory Collins , principal investigator of The Project , said it would be "a treasure trove for researchers".

"We could very quickly in getting some very, very important findings," He Said .

As Covid may differ-19 Symptoms ?

Some People with Corona Virus have no Symptoms and the Scientists are trying to determine what percentage That is.

Others have a mild-to-moderate Disease .

But about one out of five persons a much more severe Disease , and an estimated 0. 5-1% die.

As the UK Biobank can help?

the UK Biobank has to answer the blood, urine and saliva samples from 500 000 volunteers, whose Health followed in The Past ten years,

And it has already helped, on the issues, how to develop diseases such as cancer, stroke, and dementia.

Now, added information about the positive coronavirus tests, as well as hospital and GP Data .

Prof Collins said: “We are anxious to understand the Data in the UK Biobank, the differences between individuals.

“What are the differences in genetics are? There are differences in the genes, your immune response? There are differences in the underlying Health ?

“So, it is a unique comprehensive set of Data - and I think That we transform our understanding of the Disease . "

Small genetic differences could explain why Some People become very sick

For what scientist?

the researchers, the Committee believes That the entire genome, looking for Small changes in the DNA.

An area of particular interest is the ACE2 gene is That helps to make a receptor That allows you to enter The Virus and infect cells in the respiratory tract.

What is a healthy people become very sick?

in addition to the UK Biobank study, a team led by Professor Jean-Laurent Casanova from the Rockefeller University in New York , is planning to study people under 50 with no underlying medical conditions, which are taken in intensive care units.

He told Bbc News : “We are recruiting these patients, around The World , almost in every country.

“We have sequencing hubs around The World .

"collect samples, analyze The Sequence of the Genome of these patients, and We Are together. "

past research has shown That some diseases, including influenza and herpes, people with genetic variations or congenital disorders of immunity, such as Prof Casanova calls - especially sick.

“It is surprising congenital disorders of immunity, making people more susceptible to microbe," He Said .

“And this inborn errors of immunity can be very quiet, latent for decades, until an infection with a particular microbe.

“What our program does is to test, in essence, whether this idea also applies to Covid. "

Scientists from all over The World in the hope to understand more of patients sequenced genomes

Who Else coronavirus genetics look?

Prof Andrea Ganna, of the University of Helsinki, in Finland, is a leading in one strand, the genetic information on coronavirus patients from all over The World .

“There are many years of studies involving hundreds of thousands of people, and other smaller collection of Data on patients That tested positive," He Said .

"is It such a big diversity and there are many countries are involved, and we will try to centralize. "

In Iceland, for example, Decode Genetics has sequence the genomes of over half of the population.

It is now the implementation of mass testing for coronavirus.

And every time someone is tested positive, It Then sequences the DNA of The Virus to see how it has changed, submit it.

Chief executive Kari Stefansson said: “There is the possibility That the diversity of the people is the response to The Virus is rooted in The Sequence , the diversity of The Virus itself -That We Are able to many strains of The Virus That are in our community, and some of them are more aggressive than others.

“The other possibility is That this may be due to genetic diversity in a patient. Or is it a combination of the two can. "

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genetics, coronavirus pandemic

Source of news: bbc.com