Grant: Project Grant

The response to COVID-19 pandemic has been a triumph of science. At the beginning of the pandemic humans had no defense against SARS-CoV-2, but within a year effective vaccines had been developed, and subsequent mass vaccination efforts allowed society to reopen. However, the pandemic continues unabated due to the emergence of new variants and continued evolution of the virus. The emergence of more viral variants is inevitable and continued waves of SARS-CoV-2 infections through world human population could pressure the emergence of new and potentially dangerous viruses. Worldwide surveillance efforts identify viruses having genome mutations, but do not identify which mutations are dangerous and which are benign, nor provide knowledge on the pressures that drive virus evolution. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, several sequence changes appear to have evolved several times independently through a process called convergent evolution and suggest these mutations provide a selective advantage for viruses having these mutations. This proposal aims to identify the advantages provided by these mutations, their impact on virus pathogenesis, and predict the pressures that selected for them. Our goal is to better understand virus evolution and identify mutations that signify potentially dangerous variants, in order to inform public health, vaccine and treatment decisions, and global efforts prevent the spread of viral diseases.