Even looking at it closely, there is nothing impressive about the tape.
A white rectangle, on which are arranged four transparent lines.
Yet it would be wrong to underestimate it, makes us understand Quentin Semanas, the engineer who handles it with care.
"This is where everything happens," he insists.
Once the cassette has been inserted into a very powerful and very expensive machine (around 300,000 euros), the billions of data it contains will be sifted through.
Sequence, they say in the jargon.
To finally, after 27 hours of work, reveal their secrets.
Today, scientists expect very precise information from her: does the genome of the coronavirus analyzed contain variants, and in particular the British or the South African which worries the authorities so much?
At the Croix-Rousse hospital, an engineer from the Respiratory Infection Viruses CNR launches the sequencing, the study of the complete genome of the virus./LP/Jean-Baptiste Quentin
On the 4th floor of a sober but ultra-secure building at the Croix-Rousse hospital in Lyon (Rhône), researchers are in turmoil.
It was in this National Reference Center (CNR) for respiratory infection viruses that the presence of the English strain of the Covid-19 virus on French soil was confirmed for the first time on Christmas morning.
Here also that his hunt is organized.
The laboratory is coordinating a “flash” survey which will reveal the level of circulation of the variant in France at the end of the week.
"Is he already walking freely?"
"Is it a little or a lot there?"
Or?
Is he tied to British travelers and their contacts, or is he already roaming free?
This is what we want to know, ”summarizes Bruno Lina, its pilot, also member of the scientific council which enlightens the government on the health crisis.
This Monday, January 11, the professor has his nose caught and his eyes glassy.
To make matters worse, he is infected with a coronavirus ... but not SARS-CoV-2, responsible for Covid-19.
Its attacker is OC43, who has been sailing discreetly in France since the 19th century!
In the units along the corridor, his teams are getting organized.
The Covid-19 positive nasal swabs, taken in different laboratories on Thursday and Friday, are arriving.
They are analyzed a second time by the PCR method of the American Thermo Fisher Scientific, the only one today capable of detecting English anomalies on the S protein of the virus, the one that allows it to bind to our cells.
“Doubtful” profiles are good for the final confirmation step: sequencing.
Sequencing makes it possible to detect possible mutations of the virus, such as the British or South African variants./LP/Jean-Baptiste Quentin
“It is the study of the complete genome of the coronavirus.
Three times the size of the flu, it is made up of four letters, ATCG.
The sequencer will determine if they have any changes.
Information is essential, ”explains biologist Antonin Bal.
On the screen, they are materialized in particular by color: the red line indicates cases linked to the British variant.
Orange, South Africans.
Catching up on the sequencing delay
Coincidentally, almost a year ago, the Chinese delivered the very first sequencing of the enemy, allowing to establish his identity card.
From now on, we are closely monitoring its developments and their consequences.
If a clone becomes too contagious or too virulent, this could make current measures insufficient to slow it down, or even, in extreme cases, call into question the effectiveness of the vaccines.
Morning essentials newsletter
A tour of the news to start the day
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
PODCAST. Where does Covid-19 really come from? The origin of the virus and its mysteries
“For a researcher, taking up this challenge is an incredible adventure.
We make sure to be ready, ”launches virologist Laurence Josset.
This requires considerably increasing the sequencing capacities.
Last year, when 120,000 were practiced across the Channel, France returned less than 3,000!
At the CNR in Lyon alone, we should go from 200 to 300 per week, then to 3,000 weekly in two months.
If the center brought to light 23 British clones this Monday evening, mainly in the south of France, we will still have to wait to know the results of the national study.
All stages of the analysis take three to five days.
For the time being, 1.36% of samples are considered “suspect”.
It may not seem like much, but the curve climbed slowly before exploding in England.
"Nothing says that we take the path, tempers Bruno Lina.
Too much data is missing.
But today, we act as if it's the only way not to be surprised.
"