Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Moroccan researchers have analyzed more than 3,000 genomes of the COVID-19 virus in an academic initiative to improve the country’s response to the novel pandemic.
Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) described the findings as a first of its kind in the world, adding that the research is part of a national project that seeks to decipher the genetic code of the novel coronavirus present in Morocco through the identification of several of its characteristics.
The research falls under the larger framework of the Genma project at the Medical Biotechnology laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat.
The COVID-19 project aims to create a “national platform for the analysis of sequences of all Moroccan genomes, such as the Moroccan human reference genome and the genomes of bacteria and viruses from Moroccan samples available at the national level or on international databases,” a statement from the MedBiotech laboratory said.
A coalition of researchers from the Med Biotech laboratory, the Faculty of Sciences of Rabat, the Pole of Medical and Surgical Emergencies of the Mohammedan Military Instruction Hospital V, and Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences led the study.
The team made the findings of the study available for public consumption.
The research enabled the team to “determine the geographic distribution of virus genomes in more than 58 countries, describing genetic diversity, the evolution of the virus and the most important genetic changes in its genome allowing the identification of the most relevant mutations,” the statement explains.
The press release emphasized that the results will inspire more effective approaches to curbing the spread of COVID-19 and improve the possibilities of managing the pathology of the pandemic.
