First New Coronavirus Pneumonia Strain Isolated

Fudan University was officially released today. Under the guidance of Wen Yumei, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at the Medical College of Fudan University, the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the professional team of the Medical College of Fudan University have successfully isolated and identified cases from the sample. New coronavirus (2019-nCoV) strain, which is the first new coronavirus strain isolated in Shanghai. After further purification, amplification and identification, it will be a new coronavirus vaccine, antiviral drug development and pathogenic mechanism research. Provide important virus resources.

Alibaba DAMO Academy is using AI algorithms to fight the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). On February 1, the Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC) launched an automated whole-genome detection and analysis platform. Using the AI algorithm developed by Alibaba DAMO Academy, they can reduce the time required to perform genetic analysis on suspected cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus from several hours to 30 minutes. This greatly reduces the diagnosis time and allows for the accurate detection of virus mutations .

According to the relevant parties of Fudan University, after the outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia, the school and the Shanghai Municipal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's third-level biosafety laboratory (BSL-3 laboratory) prepared materials for application to the National Health and Health Commission and the National Accreditation Board Qualifications for conducting experimental activities of the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV were approved on January 30 and February 4 respectively. Under the guidance of Academician Wen Yumei, the Shanghai Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New Coronavirus Research Team of the Basic Medical College of Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University worked closely to select multiple nasal / pharyngeal swabs from confirmed cases The samples were used for experiments. The new coronavirus research team of Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University used two cell lines (vero-E6 and Huh7 cells) to inoculate samples and successfully isolated and identified the new coronavirus from a case sample (2019 -nCoV) strain, which rapidly expands in cell culture to obtain higher titers of the virus; indirect immunofluorescence revealed that virus-infected cells showed typical coronavirus-like lesions-syncytia. At present, the laboratory has basically completed the sequencing and analysis of the entire genome of the virus strain. Compared with the new coronavirus (2019-nCov) reference genome (EPI_ISL_402119, GISAID), the homology is greater than 99.9%.

Conducive to accelerating scientific research progress

Academician Wen Yumei said that Shanghai, as an international metropolis, isolates virus strains, can monitor virus mutations in real time, conduct drug screening and antibody neutralization tests, and greatly accelerate scientific research progress against new crown virus.
It is worth mentioning that Wen Yumei, who has dealt with the virus for almost a lifetime, has been working on coronavirus for a long time. She said that the coronavirus has been around for almost fifty years. In response to a new virus, prevention and control is one aspect, and scientific research is another aspect. Both are indispensable. The effect of prevention and control is immediate, but scientific research is an important basis for preventing and controlling the epidemic. Through scientific research, not only effective prevention and control measures can be produced, such as the discovery of new drugs and vaccines, but also the basis for the prevention and control of other infectious diseases. When the epidemic has passed, scientific research cannot be relaxed.

China leads the world in virus research

Academician Wen Yumei introduced that China's virus research level can be said to be at the international advanced level. This time, scientists in our country were able to isolate virus strains, find diagnostic methods, and screen out some drugs in such a short period of time, which was unimaginable in the past. She said that the current national scientific research institutions including the Shanghai team are committed to the development of the new crown vaccine, which is mainly used for prevention.

Experts believe that while paying attention to vaccines, the nature and function of related antibodies should also be studied. Neutralizing antibodies may play an important role in the treatment of critically ill patients. She also pointed out that there are many kinds of coronaviruses, and many wild animals carry coronaviruses. Therefore, it is recommended to monitor the coronavirus in the future like the influenza virus and regularly monitor them for mutations.