CovRadar

CovRadar monitors mutational changes in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein gene, with emphasis on the receptor binding domain (RBD), to support molecular surveillance and analyses relevant to vaccine targets.

Key Features:

• Targeted surveillance: Focuses on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein gene and particularly the receptor binding domain (RBD).
• Analytical pipeline: Integrates an analytical pipeline for processing and analyzing viral sequence data.
• Mutation tracking: Tracks mutational changes in the spike gene and emphasizes individual mutations rather than viral lineages.
• Mutation metrics: Computes mutation frequencies and their spatio-temporal distributions across global sample collections.
• Visualization and filtering: Produces visualizations and supports filtering of viral sequence data for downstream analysis.
• Local application: Allows application of the analytical pipeline and visualization methods to local datasets.
• Backend updates: Employs a scalable and reproducible back-end that regularly updates from public sequence databases.

Scientific Applications:

• Molecular surveillance: Monitoring spike gene and RBD variation in SARS-CoV-2 for surveillance of vaccine-relevant regions.
• Public health monitoring: Informing public health interventions by tracking the emergence and spread of spike mutations during pandemics.
• Spatio-temporal analysis: Assessing geographic and temporal distribution of mutations across global sample collections.
• Vaccine impact assessment: Supporting evaluation of how spike mutations may affect vaccine candidate targets.

Methodology:

Uses an analytical pipeline and visualization methods to compute mutation frequencies and spatio-temporal distributions, supported by a scalable, reproducible back-end that regularly updates sequence data from public databases.