DUHS researchers working on COVID-19

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The researchers at the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) have explored natural mutations which, according to them, can withstand the novel coronavirus in human genes.

The experts associated with the DUHS’ Dow College of Biotechnology (DCB) reckoned that the recent research will help to determine/allocate the medical resources for the global outbreak of the coronavirus.

“The coronavirus, due to the identified mutations in the human gene can be ineffective in the human body,” a group of doctors working under the supervision of Dr Mushtaq Hussain, DCB Vice-Principal, stated. 

According to the DUHS press release, Dr Mushtaq Hussain and his team, including Dr Nusrat Jabeen, Fozia Raza, Sanya Shabbir, Ayesha Ashraf Baig, Anusha Amanullah and Basma Aziz,, has discovered mutations in the ACE2 gene/protein of thousands of humans via genomic data mining. 

It was disclosed that this research has recently been published in the International magazine of Virology, Journal of Medical Virology. 

The researchers in their meeting with DUHS Vice Chancellor, Prof Dr M Saeed Quraishy apprised him of the scientific work and remarked that the human genomes of individuals from China, Latin America and some European countries were included in the data mining. 

“ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2) protein is a molecule to which SARS-CoV-2, causative agent of COVID-19, binds at the very initial phase of the infection, the vice chancellor was informed.  

By extensive structural modeling and docking techniques, the researchers predicted that two mutations, S19P and E329G, in ACE2 may make humans (with these mutations) naturally resistant to COVID-19 infection.

“Screening of COVID-19 patients for the presence of these mutations will in turn help in predicting the prognosis of the disease and allocation of the limiting resources,” the researchers noted. 

In the meantime, DUHS VC has said that at Dow University, research is being carried out on COVID-19 on various aspects, and researchers were getting positive results. He hoped that such efforts will help save human beings from the global coronavirus epidemic.