Consensus for an inclusive human reference genome to improve scientific outcomes
Researchers worldwide use a standard reference human genome to compare and identify differences in experimental DNA sequences.  The present reference genome GRCh38 (Genome Research Consortium human version 38) is made from 11 individuals and 70% from just one person.  It therefore lacks diversity, has at least 300 million missing letters of DNA, and some otherwise rare alleles are annotated as common.  To address these issues, scientists are developing the Pan Genome which is a graph of all known variants at a point in the genome, instead of a linear reference genome like the present one.  But it is not easy to incorporate this genome in present pipelines of genomic analyses which are streamlined for working with the linear reference genome.  It would require redeveloping these pipelines for all types of analyses, which is practically a gargantuan and very complex task.  Hence, Jesse Gillis and Alexander Dobin from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and colleagues came up with the idea of ‘consensus genome’.  These are linear reference genomes like the present one but are made from genomic information of 2500 individuals from 26 subpopulations.  The researchers compared the consensus genomes with GRCh38.  The consensus genomes performed better- showed an improved error rate in read alignment and six times less errors for gene expression analysis.  The researchers plan to use a consensus reference genome for their future experiment.  They have made their programs freely available on GitHub for scientists to create their own consensus sequences.

A new promising study generates highly specific single chain antibody from llamas and alpacas
Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies have been developed as therapies for the treatment of COVID-19. But producing antibodies for widespread usage is complicated and time-consuming. Researchers from DiosCURE Therapeutics, a spin-off from the University of Bonn were able to generate effective nanobodies against SARS-CoV-2 by fusing two selective nanobodies from llama and alpaca previously inoculated with the same virus.
In a previous study from last year, researchers were able to produce single chain antibodies from llama effective against SARS-COV-2. DiosCURE’s fused nanobodies are capable of targeting different parts of spike protein which makes it 100-fold more effective at neutralizing the COVID-19 virus. Moreover, these powerful nanobodies are effective against the mutated variant. DiosCURE’s immunotherapeutic candidates, DIOS-202 and DIOS-203 are planned to enter clinical trials this year.
"The structure-based multivalent single-chain antibodies we discovered have strong potential for clinical applications. This is owed to their highly potent neutralizing activity and in-built protection from the rapid emergence of escape mutants. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 escape mutants will remain an ongoing challenge in this pandemic, and novel therapies are urgently needed to address this problem," - Eicke Latz, Director of the Institute of Innate Immunity at the University of Bonn, co-founder and Board member of DiosCURE.