On Jul. 22, 2020, through the Canadian COVID Genomics Network (CanCOGeN) ‘a new initiative was launched by Genome Canada and backed by $40 million in federal funding’ scientists across Canada began collaborating on genomics-based research to find solutions to COVID-19.

Among those involved are UBC’s Terry Snutch and Steven Jones, both professors in the faculty of medicine. Snutch, professor in UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories and Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, is leading the $20 million COVID-19 genome sequencing component of the initiative, called CanCOGeN-VirusSeq.

Meanwhile, Jones, who is co-director and head of bioinformatics at Canada’s BC Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) at BC Cancer, is leading the B.C. branch of the CanCOGeN-HostSeq team to sequence the genomes of 10,000 Canadians who have tested positive for COVID-19—an initiative supported by another $20 million investment from the federal government.