Sharon Peacock, director of COVID-19 Genomics UK REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo
Last December, the UK shocked the world with the announcement of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that seemed to spread faster than the original virus. That discovery was made possible by the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, which had been sequencing viral samples to monitor the evolution of the virus. COG-UK, as it is known, is led by Sharon Peacock, who spoke to New Scientist about her research.
What were you working on before the pandemic kicked off?
I was working in Thailand in disease research…
