The BC-CfE’s Dr. Jeffrey Joy is leading a team of researchers in the fight against COVID-19. Joy, a senior research scientist specializing in evolutionary genetics, molecular epidemiology and bioinformatics at the BC-CfE, is also an assistant professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia.
Using a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research along with support and resources provided by the BC-CfE, Joy and his team are studying the genomic evolution of COVID-19. The scientists working with Dr. Joy join teams around the world working to contain the current pandemic.
By studying the available genomes, Joy’s team can compare them with the genomes of other coronaviruses to determine common features and evaluate patterns of viral spread.
The fight against the spread of COVID is an international collaborative effort, with Dr. Joy and BC-CfE researcher’s working closely with the Chinese Centre for Disease Control as well as other Canadian teams. It’s hoped this close collaboration will not only allow for a better assessment of the origins of the disease, it will also help exert control and, ultimately, elimination of the current, and future, coronavirus outbreaks.
“We are grateful to the federal government for this emergency funding, which is enabling researchers at the BC-CfE, UBC and across Canada to help find solutions to this urgent crisis,” says Dr. Joy.