COVID 19 mutations- No problem mon!

Jamaica is now in possession of a genomic sequencing machine.

The machine, procured by the Chase Fund, was handed over to the University of the West Indies Hospital on Friday (October 22).

At a cost of $40 million, the machine puts the country in a position to spot new and dangerous variations, and potentially help stem their spread.

Not just for COVID-19

Speaking with The Den, Consultant Microbiologist, Alison Nicholson, shared that the machine will continue to be useful long after the pandemic is over.

Nicholson shared that it can also be used  to sequence other microbes and germs.

“It is perfect timing. COVID just happens to be the catalyst for us to get it, but long after COVID is gone it is something that we will still be using. It is cutting edge and it is allowing us to be able  to compare apples with apples, ” Nicholson explained.

“Say you have a multi drug resistant organism (a bacteria). And England has one and, Canada has one. But that doesn’t tell you what’s causing the organism to be resistant. When you use the sequencer it goes down to the gene level and it is able to tell you where the difference is. So now you can say okay, the one we have in Jamaica is not the same one. So, someone from the UK didn’t bring it to Jamaica and vice versa because it is a completely different mechanism even though the end result is that it is resistant, “she added.

According to Nicholson, this isn’t Jamaica’s first genomic sequencing machine.

She noted that Jamaica had done sequencing in the past on HIV.

However, Nicholson said this new machine utilized the latest technology and was a tabletop device.

Following training by the US manufacturer, Nicholson said the machine will go into use.