10 Things We Learned From Genome Canada Researchers

Read or watch the full interviews and others in our COVID-19 Rebound Series!

Over the last three months, Canadian scientists spoke to TheFutureEconomy.ca on the progress—and limitations—of COVID-19 research. The process produced valuable insights for Canadians, including how we can best prepare for future crises. Here’s what we learned…  

1. Funding for Basic Science is Key to Pandemic Preparedness  

The current crisis has shone a light on the importance of making good, long-term and sustainable investments to fundamental scientific research that serves society.  

“We’re mounting a very aggressive response to this crisis, but the reason we can do that is we have been funding scientists for decades,” said Dr. Rob Annan, President and CEO of Genome Canada (full interview here).  

Continued investment in public health and research, especially during inter-pandemic periods, will be critical to making sure we are prepared to launch a rapid response in the future.   

2. Genomics Accelerates Our Understanding of COVID-19 

Genomics is the science that aims to decipher and understand the entire genetic information of an organism (i.e. human, animal, plant or microorganism) encoded in its DNA and related molecules (i.e. RNA and proteins). Broadly speaking, the definition of genomics includes related disciplines such as proteomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics. 

In the case of COVID-19, researchers sequence the viral genome made of RNA. This information is helping us understand virus behaviour, track changes as the virus migrates, understand how treatments or vaccines might work and refine diagnostic tools. 

In April, Genome Canada and six regional Genome Centres launched the Canadian COVID Genomics Network (CanCOGeN) to help Canadian scientists understand how the virus is evolving and why people experience such different health outcomes. The CanCOGeN initiative will sequence up to 150,000 viral genomes and up to 10,000 host genomes in Canada. 

“We need to be specifically targeting this particular pandemic virus from a vaccine or diagnostic or therapeutic point of view,” said Dr. Dylan Pillai, a professor and expert in Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary (full interview here). “Genomics plays into that because the genome sequence is the source of truth of the identity of the virus.” 

Through consistent investments in genomic science, Canada has become a world-leader in genomics research, and we were able to turn our research infrastructure on a dime to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.  

3. International Collaboration in the Scientific Community is a Win for Open Science 

The pandemic is an international problem and it requires an international response. The scientists we interviewed spoke to the importance of having a community-led response by researchers who are open with their results, share their data and work collaboratively across borders. 

“This is not a time for glory, it is a time for sharing and collaboration,” said Dr. Natalie Prystajecky, the program head of Environmental Microbiology and Molecular and Microbial Genomics at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (full interview here). “I do not think we would be where we are today with respect to testing capacity if we had not collaborated with the international community.” 

Many scientists are coordinating amongst themselves, regardless of where they work, and many we spoke to were proponents of open source genetic information that is available across jurisdictions. This spirit has been galvanized by the scope of the COVID-19 crisis. However, open science is not without its barriers, even outside of the current climate. 

“There are a series of economic constructs, societal constructs, societal incentives and institutional incentives that all kind of conspire against sharing,” said Dr. Aled Edwards, Chief Executive of the Structural Genomics Consortium (full interview here). “At the end of the day, we do not have drugs for Alzheimer’s in large part because of this whole construct.” 

“I think it needs a rethink and maybe the COVID-19 crisis can be a catalyst for change,” said Edwards.  

4. Data Sharing is Critical to Preparedness but a Challenge to the Healthcare System  

A common theme amongst the researchers was the importance of data in tracking and understanding the transmission of COVID-19. The amount of data that is available is much higher than in previous outbreaks but creating quality data and managing large quantities of data is a challenge for the healthcare system. 

“It is important to think about how hospitals and research institutions are able to collect data from patients and make it available across provincial and national borders so that we can collectively work together,” said Dr. Rob Annan. “[This is] a public policy challenge that is well understood and recognized, but one that is not as simple to solve as we might hope.” 

Canadian policy and decision makers need to invest in data infrastructure and make other investments that improve the technology yields across the country. 

5. The Federal Government’s Response Was Quick, Bold and Decisive 

The federal government was quick to make funding available to scientists throughout Canada, a move lauded by the researchers. Funding extended through therapy to genomics, vaccine development and projective modelling of the disease’s social impacts.  

“The breadth and the number of researchers funded really shows Canada’s research capacity and the investment from our government and funding agencies to support that,” said Dr. Prystajecky. 

The funding process was significantly sped up, bringing much-needed financing to researchers within days rather than weeks or months. Dr. Rob Annan gave both the federal and provincial governments “full marks” for their response. 

6. There Will Be More Pandemics  

The question is not if we will see another pandemic—it’s when it will happen. The scientists were resolute in their affirmation that there will certainly be another viral outbreak after this one, and with that in mind, we have to begin preparing now and build long-term solutions. 

“I think there need to be dedicated individuals whose daily activity is monitoring and planning for such events and ensuring that there is good information coming back so that we know how to prepare,” said Dr. Pillai.  

Canada tends to have “short-term memory” between diseases and new priorities often overtake pandemic preparedness in between outbreaks. Sustained funding in solutions and even vaccine development will help us to be better prepared for the next pandemic.  

7. The Research Community Might Have a Vaccine Early Next Year  

Normally, the process for vaccine development takes 10 to 12 years. But the international community is aiming to produce a vaccine within a year and a half. Data sharing, yet again, will be the key.  

“The data is openly shared, which is very, very unusual, and it is being discussed in groups around the world,” said Dr. Volker Gerdts, President and CEO of VIDO-Intervac (full interview here). “In my experience that is very unprecedented compared to a normal vaccine where everybody is trying to protect their technology.” 

He assured Canadians of the efficacy of a vaccine that is produced in such a short period of time, explaining that researchers are developing vaccines in parallel.  

“It is like a horse race,” said Gerdts. “Rather than starting with one horse that did not make it, and then starting with the next horse, right now we are starting with four horses in parallel and only one will make it. But that one horse will be as rigorously tested for safety as you would with any other vaccine candidate.” 

8. Public/Private Partnerships are Paving the Way Forward 

Private companies and industry leaders have become part of the research strategy in Canada, a development that left our interviewees impressed.  

Dr. Aled Edwards described the barrier between the public and private sectors being “temporarily down” as stakeholders on both sides come together to work in the public’s best interest.  

“Daily, I deal with 10 large pharmaceutical companies, and I can tell with absolute certainty that every scientist and every one of these companies is desperate to help,” said Edwards. 

9. Innovation Needs to Be Domestic  

This pandemic has laid bare the dependency that Canada has on pharmaceutical and medical technology companies beyond our borders, which created friction early on in the availability and accessibility of testing kits. Canadians need to be more self-reliant. 

“Having our own solutions to pandemic preparedness in terms of diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics is important so that we are not handcuffed in terms of what we can do to save lives,” said Dr. Pillai. “One of the lessons learned is that our domestic capacity for innovation should be there.” 

Dr. Volker Gerdts, who is currently working on testing of a vaccine on humans, agreed that the pandemic has highlighted the critical issue of self-sufficiency. “I think it is very dangerous to depend on others to produce a vaccine, hoping they will share with us,” said Gerdts. “We would rather be in a position that we can share with others than depending on others to share with us.” 

10. We Need to Take Responsibility  

COVID-19, as Dr. Samira Mubareka pointed out, is a tiny molecular machine that brought the world to its knees—but the virus is not the problem, it’s us. “As we encroach on natural habitats, we increase the likelihood that we will encounter or be exposed to viruses that normally we would not be exposed to,” said Dr. Mubareka. 

Dr. Aled Edwards echoed the sentiment, highlighting that it is the close proximity to animals—from whence HIV, Ebola, and this virus came—that has catalyzed these viral outbreaks. As humans and animals juxtapose, viruses will hop from one to the other. 

“We need to think about how our behaviour really allowed some of this to happen,” said Mubareka, an Infectious Diseases physician and virologist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (full interview here). “If we want to mitigate it in the future, we have to take some responsibility and accountability. We need to appreciate our own role in terms of this pandemic.”  

Special thank you to Genome Canada for supporting this series, and to our interviewees:

Rob Annan , President & CEO of Genome Canada

Dylan Pillai, Professor & Expert in Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary 

Natalie Prystajecky, Program Head, Environmental Microbiology & Molecular and Microbial Genomics Programs at the BC Centre for Disease Control

Samira Mubareka, Infectious Diseases Physician & Virologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre & Research Institute and the University of Toronto

Aled Edwards, Chief Executive at the Structural Genomics Consortium

Volker Gerdts, President & CEO of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) at the University of Saskatchewan