Tracing the evolution of the coronavirus has taken over Anne-Catrin Uhlemann’s life.
Formerly, the Columbia University researcher studied why drug-resistant bacteria often thrived inside immunocompromised people. But when the COVID-19 swept over New York last March, the devastation motivated her team to shift focus. Medini Annavajhala, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab, volunteered to begin storing coronavirus specimens at the medical center’s “biobank”—in case they were needed for future investigations. Last spring and summer, the team also pivoted to searching for potential mutations among the coronavirus—an early, but small, effort that didn’t yield much at first but ultimately paid off.
After the variant from the United Kingdom, B.1.1.7, emerged last autumn, the attention on genomic sequencing—the cutting-edge method for spotting mutations—drastically increased in New York. Uhlemann’s lab, too, rapidly ramped up the number of coronavirus genomes they’d find.
In February, her team helped identify the New York City variant (B.1.526)—a new mutant that originated in the five boroughs and potentially reduces the effectiveness of our immunity defenses. Its spread is now dominant in the city, even outpacing the ever-dangerous U.K. variant.
Her lab is one of many around the city hunting down the variants through genome sequencing. That's how we know there are hundreds of variant cases in the metro area—a factor that may explain why progress against the city’s outbreak has stalled and why the virus is resurging in New Jersey. Nationwide data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the New York variant now makes up a larger portion of cases than the dangerous strains from South Africa (B.1.351) and Brazil (P.1). Yet B.1.526 still hasn’t received the CDC’s highest threat-level designation: variant of concern.
Taming the coronavirus variants will determine how quickly we beat back the pandemic this year. WNYC host Michael Hill speaks Gothamist health reporter Sydney Pereira about her recent tour through the city laboratories that are tracking these mutants as they spread.
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