Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Push for Access

Researchers in India are asking for the government to make it easier for them to access COVID-19 data, according to Science.

India is currently experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases, with more than 380,000 new cases reported yesterday, according to Johns Hopkins' Coronavirus Resource Center. In a letter, the researchers in India call for better access to data that has collected on the pandemic there. For instance, they seek access to granular testing data the Indian Council of Medical Research has collected as well as clinical data that could enable better analyses and predictions. They further seek increased genomic surveillance and release of that data, and the easing of policies to more quickly import scientific equipment to ramp up testing and sequencing.

Science adds that K. VijayRaghavan, the principal scientific advisor to the Indian government, issued a note acknowledging these concerns, though some researchers say the response isn't enough. "The note only says that government agencies will facilitate data access," Partha Pratim Majumder, a genetic epidemiologist at the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, tells Science. "The question is: when? Time is of the essence."

The Scan

Open Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas Team Introduces Genomic Data Collection, Analytical Tools

A study in Cell Genomics outlines open-source methods being used to analyze and translate whole-genome, exome, and RNA sequence data from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas.

Neurological Outcomes Linked to Innate Immune Features After Cardiac Arrest

Researchers reporting in Med dig into immune features found a few hours after cardiac arrest that correspond with neurological outcomes.

Mouse Study Finds Circadian Rhythm-Related Gene Expression Changes Linked to Sleep Apnea

A paper in PLOS Biology reveals tissue-specific circadian rhythm and gene expression patterns in an intermittent hypoxia-based mouse model of obstructive sleep apnea.

Polygenic Risk Score to Predict Preeclampsia, Gestational Hypertension in Pregnant Women

Researchers in Nature Medicine provide new mechanistic insights into the development of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, which may help develop therapeutics.