SARS-CoV-2 has wreaked havoc across the globe, sparing no culture or industry from its impact. The knowledge acquired during these unprecedented times will help us navigate our way out of the current pandemic, and will hopefully provide the tools to prevent – or at least nullify the impact of – the next emerging pathogen. This eBook examines the suite of technologies leading the fight in the war on SARS-CoV-2, highlighting the importance of initial viral detection and ongoing biosurveillance to limit its spread and damage – to both human life and our way of life.
The emergence of COVID-19 has reinforced what the scientific community already knew: that another global pandemic was inevitable. Fortunately, the technologies currently at our disposal, and the methods we’re continually developing and improving, are playing vital roles in limiting its impact. Rapid detection of the virus through qPCR has allowed authorities to track the progression and spread of the virus, providing the valuable information needed to implement the required interventions. At the same time, NGS technologies have given researchers the ability to differentiate and track variants from degraded samples, and in record time.
These pioneering efforts have become the top global health priority, vastly increasing our knowledge of the origin of SARS-CoV-2, and the changing behavior of the virus across the human population. This will guide how we will respond to the next pathogen, and potentially lead to the implementation of appropriate surveillance measures – even in ‘peace time’ – to be able to identify the next threat before it becomes a global pandemic.
The following six articles – written by leaders in their fields and researchers on the front line – examine these ground-breaking tools, methods and workflows in detail.
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