Dr. Jeffrey Wrana's Lab Leads in Tracking COVID-19 Variant Evolution in Toronto
Research Highlights
Mount Sinai Health News
Dr. Jeff Wrana is pictured with team members Lauren Caldwell, Dr. Khalid Al-Zahrani and Dr. Marie-Ming Aynaud at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute.
By
MoGen Communications
MoGen Scientists Track COVID-19 Variant Evolution in Toronto
MoGen faculty member Dr. Jeff Wrana, alongside a team of researchers, has mapped how COVID-19 variants evolved and spread in Toronto from 2020 to 2023. Working with collaborators at Sinai Health’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI) and University Health Network, the team analyzed over 70,000 samples from across the city, uncovering patterns that could help predict future outbreaks.
Using SPAR-Seq, a high-speed genetic sequencing tool, the researchers identified major variants—including Alpha, Beta, and Omicron—along with numerous sub-variants. Their findings suggest that mutations seen in early versions of the virus often reappeared in later, dominant strains, indicating a pattern in how the virus adapts over time.
Mentioned in Sinai Health News, Dr. Wrana emphasized the potential impact of these discoveries,:
“Together, our findings show that the emergence of dangerous variants could be predicted. Through systematic screening of key domains in viruses, coupled with functional studies in the laboratory, it would be possible to identify variants with high risk for human transmission. This could be a powerful tool to predict and manage future pandemics.”
The study also found that COVID-19’s spread didn’t follow a simple trajectory. Instead, cases surged and slowed in a wave-like manner, suggesting that local interactions and community structures play a critical role in transmission.
Dr. Anne-Claude Gingras, Director of LTRI and Vice President of Research at Sinai Health and MoGen Professor, highlighted the importance of collaborative efforts in this work:
“This study exemplifies the collaborative research that we value and foster, bringing together expertise in genomics, virology, and public health.”
These findings offer valuable insights into how pandemics unfold and how health officials can better anticipate new threats. The full study is available in Nature Communications. Read more here.
