A 3-D illustration of the coronavirus COVID-19 under the microscope.
A $770,000 National Institutes of Health grant will fund a new collaboration studying COVID-19 variants in Arkansas, increasing the capacity for genomic sequencing, tracking and analyses of virus samples.
This collaboration, called the “Arkansas Sequencing (ArkSeq) Consortium,” is among the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and Arkansas Department of Health.
They will be a source for virus samples from across the state used for sequencing COVID-19 variants, and ACRI will provide an additional $200,000 to expand sequencing capacity. ACRI’s NIH-funded Center for Translational Pediatric Research and UAMS’ IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence will lead these efforts.
The grant was awarded to CTPR Director Dr. Alan Tackett, a professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and deputy director for the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute; and Dr. Josh Kennedy, associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy and Immunology. He is the project leader.
Kennedy said in a news release that the work will help the state understand which COVID-19 variants are present in Arkansas and could even help identify new variants.
“The big picture information that emerges from this type of detail can equip the health care community to respond more quickly, ultimately saving more lives and preventing some serious complications,” Kennedy said. “Combining the expertise and resources of several Arkansas health leaders will mean we help more people faster.”
According to the consortium, Arkansas has sequenced fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 samples — a total of only 0.28% of all cases so far — putting the state is 48th in the nation for total samples sequenced. The consortium expects to yield eight times more sequences and also produce more samples for study.
Bioinformatics support for the project will be provided by Dr. Stephanie Byrum, assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Dr. David Ussery, professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Biomedical Informatics.
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