COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium

The COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) is a group of public health agencies and academic institutions in the United Kingdom created in April 2020[1][2][3] to collect, sequence and analyse genomes of SARS-CoV-2 as part of COVID-19 pandemic response. The consortium comprises the UK's four public health agencies, National Health Service organisations, academic partners and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. The consortium is known for first identifying the SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern 202012/01 in November 2020.[4] As of January 2021, 45% of all SARS-CoV-2 sequences uploaded to public databases originate from COG-UK.[5][6][7]

COVID-19 Genomics UK
EstablishedApril 2020
FocusCOVID-19 genomic sequencing
Key peopleSharon Peacock
Budget£20 million[1]
Location
United Kingdom

Structure

COG-UK is supported by £20 million funding from the Department of Health and Social Care, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, administered by UKRI.[1] The consortium was also backed by the Department of Health and Social Care's Testing Innovation Fund on 16 November 2020 to facilitate the genome sequencing capacity needed to meet the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the UK over the winter period.[8]

Partners in the consortium include the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Quadram Institute, and 16[9] universities including Queen's University Belfast, the University of Birmingham, Cardiff University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Exeter, the University of Glasgow, the University of Liverpool, Newcastle University, the University of Nottingham, the University of Oxford, the University of Portsmouth, University College London, and the University of Sheffield.[10]

Key people

The executive director of the consortium is Sharon Peacock, a professor and microbiologist at Cambridge University. [11][5] Peacock is also on a part-time secondment to Public Health England as Director of Science, where she focuses on the development of pathogen sequencing through COG-UK.[12]

Developments

During the COVID-19 pandemic, tools developed by the COG-UK consortium have been widely used, including, for example Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Lineages (PANGOLIN).[13] The SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern 202012/01 (originally termed lineage B.1.1.7) was detected in November 2020 by the COG-UK consortium.[4][14] The variant is the subject of ongoing investigations by the UK public health agencies, coordinated by Public Health England and supported by COG-UK.[15] The number of sequences COG-UK have uploaded to GISAID is just under 5% of all UK coronavirus infections, compared to 3.2% for the United States and 60% for Australia.[5] Approximately 60% of these were sequenced at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.[11] By December 2020, the COG-UK consortium was reported to have understood 'the genetic history of more than 150,000 samples of Sars-Cov-2 virus'.[16]

References
  1. "UK launches whole genome sequence alliance to map spread of coronavirus". COG-UK Consortium. 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  2. Peacock, Sharon (17 December 2020). "A short history of the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium". COG-UK Consortium. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  3. Gallagher, James (23 March 2020). "Coronavirus to be tracked using its genetic code". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2021. The project - called the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium - is a collaboration between the NHS, public health agencies and the Wellcome Sanger Institute universities. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: "This new consortium will bring together the UK's brightest and best scientists to build our understanding of this pandemic, tackle the disease and ultimately, save lives."
  4. Wise, Jacqui (16 December 2020). "Covid-19: New coronavirus variant is identified in UK". BMJ. 371. doi:10.1136/bmj.m4857. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 33328153.
  5. David Cyranoski. "Alarming COVID variants show vital role of genomic surveillance".
  6. "In tracking Covid mutations, most countries flying blind". www.nst.com.my. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  7. "Bio-Britain is leading the world in the science of Covid". Daily Telegraph. 10 January 2021.
  8. Nov 2020, COG-UK 16. "£12.2 million boost for SARS-CoV-2 real-time genomic surveillance - COG-UK Consortium". www.cogconsortium.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  9. "UK coronavirus variant: 'we're being sanctioned for transparency'". Daily Telegraph.
  10. "Who We Are". COG-UK Consortium. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  11. "How Britain has done so much sequencing of the coronavirus genome".
  12. "Professor Sharon Peacock - CBE FMedSci | Website and Blog". Sharon Peacock. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  13. "COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium Report #10 -11th August 2020 (see section 'Summary of major tools and pipelines developed by COG-UK')" (PDF). www.cogconsortium.uk. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  14. "The new Covid variants are a peril to us all". www.ft.com.
  15. Dec 2020, COG-UK 14. "Update on new SARS-CoV-2 variant and how COG-UK tracks emerging mutations - COG-UK Consortium". www.cogconsortium.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  16. Schraer, Rachel (22 December 2020). "Covid: New variant found 'due to hard work of UK scientists'". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
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