Gates Foundation commits $7million for COVID genome research
Zee News
GIISER works to ensure scientists have the capacity to rapidly detect if new SARS-CoV-2 variants in their communities show signs of evading immune response.
New Delhi: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced to provide $7 million to fund genomic research in eight low and middle income countries, including India. Other countries are South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Brazil.
The commitment, made at the 17th Grand Challenges Annual Meeting held between November 8 and 11, is part of the foundation's newly launched Global Immunology and Immune Sequencing for Epidemic Response (GIISER) programme. GIISER works to ensure scientists have the capacity to rapidly detect if new SARS-CoV-2 variants in their communities show signs of evading immune response.
GIISER will operate as a decentralised network of autonomous and geographically distinct hubs that are able to connect local pathogen sequencing data and clinical epidemiology with local immunological understanding and tools.