COVID Cloud
Bringing together Canadian expertise to provide real-time monitoring of the COVID-19 virus.
Project Overview
Updated March 31, 2023.
The Problem
As COVID-19 continues to spread globally, there is an urgent need to understand the DNA footprint of this rapidly evolving virus.
How We Are Solving It
Led by DNAstack, the COVID Cloud project harnesses Canada’s genomics research capabilities to rapidly sequence, share and analyze the genomic profile of COVID-19 and the people who have contracted it in Canada and around the world. This information will help inform the development of public health policies, diagnostics, therapies and vaccines. Many countries, including Canada, are mobilizing efforts to generate large volumes of genomic sequence data. However, significant challenges remain in using technology to harness the data and using the information to deliver timely insights.
COVID Cloud brings together Canadian expertise in areas such as genome science, infectious diseases, virology, software engineering, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, pharmaceuticals and policy to accelerate the development of a digital technology platform to provide near real-time monitoring of the virus’ evolutionary strains, transmission patterns, mutation rate and drug targets.
In addition to accelerating the response to COVID-19, the platform will serve as a springboard for further leveraging genomics and precision health in the years to come, including preparing for future waves and outbreaks of other infectious diseases.
The Result
This project delivered the COVID Cloud platform, rebranded by DNAstack as ViralAI, that enables the sharing of data using industry standards and provides scientists and decision makers with better information about COVID-19 derived from real-time genomics, clinical, epidemiological, and other data. Technical development of the COVID Cloud platform remains ongoing as partnerships have been established with both Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Ontario Genomics to deploy COVID Cloud as a solution to support provincial COVID surveillance and the effectiveness of public health measures. The COVID Cloud platform was selected by CanCOGeN to deliver, alongside other groups, a national data sharing platform that will enable countrywide variant surveillance.
In 2021, Genome Canada launched the Canadian VirusSeq Data Portal. Technology developed as part of the COVID Cloud project has been integrated into the portal, which continues to play an important role in Canada’s ability to manage current and future pandemics. This project also supported development and distribution of OICR’s Overture system for large-scale genomic data management and the Dockstore system for scientific workflow management. Both systems are now in use at multiple sites within and outside Canada.
Project Lead
Project Partners
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“At DNAstack we have an audacious goal to accelerate biomedical research and discovery with our software. The Supercluster has provided a framework for us to incubate and grow software products alongside partners who believe in the same principles and future as we do. The COVID Cloud project has created a foundation to continue developing these partnerships and bolster Canadian innovation. This opportunity has resulted in a number of follow-on and unrelated projects with repeat partners, and our enterprise-grade solution is being used to support data-driven decision making regionally, nationally and internationally."
Co-Founder & CEO, DNAstack Watch the COVID Cloud Project Video