Event date:
May 20 2021 2:00 pm

Epidemiological Evaluation of COVID-19 with Immune Response to and Sequence Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in Balochistan

Supervisor
Dr. Shaper Mirza
Student
Sadiq Ali
Venue
Zoom Meetings (Online)
Event
MS Thesis defense
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 which emerged in China during late 2019, has caused global pandemic of 2020 infecting ~147 million people with ~3 million deaths worldwide by April 26th, 2021. Infection begins with binding of SARS-Cov2 to the ACE receptor of humans through its spike protein. The gene for spike (S) protein has been shown to be immunogenic and the gene for Spike is highly mutable. Using the Wuhan strains as the reference genome, the Sgene of the virus in Punjab shows two point mutations (C22477T and A23403G), however, data on mutations in S gene from other provinces is yet to be determined. Towards this we designed this study to determine mutations in S gene and to evaluate antibody response to S gene in acutely ill and recovering patients from the province of Baluchistan. Spike-gene from the viral samples collected in Balochistan was amplified and sequenced to determine if mutations are comparable to mutations in the S-gene from other regions of Pakistan. Alongside this we also measured the concentration of IgG and IgM in acutely ill patients and in individuals who have recovered mild to moderate COVID-19 infections in the past 4 months.

Meeting Link: https://lums-edu-pk.zoom.us/j/98821829983?pwd=ZmUvTTlhKzN5SDlYYnA5UnF4MkJvdz09

Meeting ID: 988 2182 9983
Passcode: 791484