In a report posted at the Global Initiative for Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) website, the UK variant is said to harbor multiple spike protein mutations within a single sample, including a combination of the following: H69del, V70del(69), Y145del(143), N501Y, A570D, D614G, P681H(674), T716I, S982A, and D1118H (GISAID, 2020). While the discovery of this new UK variant appears to be concerning, the report cautions that the detailed effects of these mutations remain to be fully determined.

OnePGC: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao Virtual Conference 12.10.2020 #PGCParaSaBayan
Philippine Genome Center’s virtual conference on December 10, 2020. More information about this event: https://bit.ly/Program_1PGC2020 OnePGC 2020 phgenome Communications Team

PGC SARS-CoV-2 Bulletin No.2: Three Possible Routes of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Philippines
Majority of the Philippine submissions (18 of 23) were collected in the month of March, wherein except for one sample which clustered with isolates from Shanghai, China, all others were observed to group into clades linked to the outbreak in the cruise ship, M/V Diamond Princess, moored in Yokohama, Japan in early February 2020. Later that month, passengers and crew members of this cruise ship representing various nationalities including Filipinos, Indians, and Australians were repatriated to their home countries.

PGC SARS-CoV-2 Bulletin No.1: Philippine Genome Center Reports Detection of the D614G Variant of SARS-CoV-2 Virus in the Philippines
COVID-19 or the Coronavirus Disease 2019 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus, the genome of which is a single-stranded positive sense RNA that is about 30,000 bases long. It contains 11 genes and several regions have been known to be immunogenic, including different parts of the Spike (S) protein, the Nucleocapsid (N) protein, as well as the Membrane (M) and Envelope (E) proteins, which have therefore been targeted for vaccine development.

DNA Sequencing Core Facility resumes its services on July 1, 2020
Walk-ins will not be accommodated. Please email the lab and arrange drop-off appointment within the provided schedule and wait for confirmation prior bringing your samples to PGC.

PGC Core Facility for Bioinformatics releases six (6) genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 from Philippine samples between March 22-28, 2020
The Philippine Genome Center (PGC) thru its Core Facility for Bioinformatics (CFB) releases today to the global community through the GISAID database six (6) genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Philippine samples taken in Metro Manila between 26 to 28 March 2020.

MicroRNA and mRNA interactions coordinate the immune response in non-lethal heat stressed Litopenaeus vannamei against AHPND-causing Vibrio parahaemolyticus
During its first outbreak, the devastating effect of early mortality syndrome (EMS) on the global shrimp industry was primarily caused by the lack of information regarding the disease and its causative agent.

Draft Genome Sequence of Multidrug-Resistant Vibrio parahaemolyticus Strain PH698, Infecting Penaeid Shrimp in the Philippines
The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacterial strains in diverse settings has been reported globally. In the Philippine shrimp aquaculture industry, antibiotics are used for the treatment of bacterial diseases during the production cycle. We report the draft genome of Vibrio parahaemolyticus PH698, a multidrug-resistant strain isolated from a Philippine shrimp farm.

Draft Genome Sequence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Strain PH1339, Which Causes Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease in Shrimp in the Philippines
Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), which affects multiple shrimp species, including the economically important Penaeus monodon and Penaeus vannamei, is characterized by massive sloughing of the epithelial cells of the hepatopancreas to the point of atrophy (1).

UP inaugurates Genomics facility
The Shared Genomics Core Laboratory (SGCL) at the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), UP Diliman was inaugurated on February 20 and officially handed over by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to the University.