Wondering what scientists & public health partners can do with $40 million in #genomics to combat #COVID19 with rapid effect on public health decision making in ? Read on 1/8

Introducing #CanCOGeN, a new Canadian genomics network led by @GenomeCanada, funded by $40M in federal funds. AKA the Canadian COVID Genomics Network. 2/8

#CanCOGeN’s core activities will include accelerated sequencing of 150,000 viral genomes and 10,000 host genomes across . The better we understand the virus and what it does to humans, the better and faster we can develop treatments and vaccines. 3/8

#CanCOGeN will build critical infrastructure, boosting in-house capacity in public health laboratories across , and enable cross-Canada #genomics data sharing, coordination and analysis. 4/8

Thanks to national coordination, the data will support tracking of the virus and its different strains to inform Canadian public health measures and policy decisions. 5/8

#CanCOGeN will collaborate with global partners and represent in international viral and host genome sequencing efforts that will track transmission trends & better predict risk and develop treatment strategies. In the UK, for example: https://bit.ly/GC_Reuters  6/8

All this is made possible through through collaboration with 6 regional Genome Centres, national and provincial public health labs, gene sequencing centres, hospitals, academia and industry across . 7/8

This allows us to gather the scientific data required in the short-term and to develop tools needed in the long-term to protect Canadians’ health in the face of similar outbreaks in the future. https://bit.ly/GC_CanCOGeN  8/8