How to quickly and efficiently identify huge gene data sets to help coronavirus research
Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 08:10
in Biology & Nature
Thanks to the advancement of sequencing technology, it's possible to produce massive amounts of genome sequence data on various species. It's crucial to examine pan-genomic data—the entire set of genes possessed by all members of a particular species—particularly in areas like bacteria and virus research, investigation of drug resistance mechanisms and vaccine development. For example, why is the coronavirus resistant to common drugs? Can big data help to rapidly identify the characteristics of such novel virus strains? A group of researchers supported by the EU-funded PANGAIA project is now tackling this challenge by developing methods for comparing gigantic gene data sets.