What to know
UCSF created an integrated network to combine rapid viral sequencing with epidemiologic and clinical data. Awarded in 2021, this project established a real-time network with local, state, and federal public health agencies to track and monitor the evolution and spread of COVID-19. By using techniques to sequence SARS-CoV-2 genomes from infected patients and then sharing data with public health agencies through the network, researchers sought to improve contract tracing and public health responses.
Findings on SARS-CoV-2 surveillance and investigations
This project:
- Determined SARS-CoV-2 transmission could occur from fully vaccinated symptomatic index patients to vaccinated and unvaccinated household contacts. 1
- Explored the application of genomic and computational methods for efficient data-driven response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2
- Explored the associations between vaccine breakthrough infections in the San Francisco Bay Area and SARS-CoV-2 variants in early 2021. 3
Findings on SARS-CoV-2 variant characteristics
This project:
- Determined differences in antibody titers in Delta versus Omicron vaccine breakthrough infections.4
- Showed that without vaccination, Omicron infection induced a weak and limited humoral response that might not confer broad protection against non-Omicron variants. 5
- Determined differences in antibody titer for Delta and in Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants in unvaccinated individuals and in breakthrough infections. 6
- , Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2021.
- , Nat Methods, 2022.
- Nature Microbiology 7, 2022.
- . Cell, 2022.
- Nature, 2022.