The work is not new, but it is becoming especially visible at a time when the world continues to fight the pandemic. There are people who spend their days recognizing viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms in time to protect the population. This is an increasingly less solitary and increasingly global task. Portugal is part of this international series of research that is getting stronger and more effective with the coronavirus.
Joao Paulo Gomez, researcher at Ricardo Jorge Instituteexplains that “one of the few good things the pandemic has brought has been the rapid change in the mentality of the scientific community. There has always been some competition (…) However, the pandemic has made that competition do well in the public health service. The rush to publish results has been more related benefit that can accrue to others.”
Portugal is involved in many European projects along with countries such as France, UK, Spain, Sweden and Denmark. And he achieved good results, as he was the first to determine the genetic sequence of the monkeypox virus.
The important thing is to identify the agent as quickly as possible and help public health authorities protect the population. For example in the adaptation and modification of vaccines. This spirit of sharing also allows the creation of bioinformatics tools such as those developed at the Ricardo Jorge Institute, which allow any laboratory in the world to integrate genome analysis into the surveillance of different viruses.
