New INS Genomics Laboratory is designated as a training space for biologists in the region

On April 5, the Pan American Health Organization designated the INS National Genomics Laboratory as a collaborating and reference center in the region of the Americas, that is, that the Institute will be a training site for biologists in the region and may eventually receive samples for analysis of special studies that is carrying out PAHO/WHO on this continent.

The announcement was made by the representative for PAHO/WHO in Colombia, Gina Tambini, who highlighted the advantages of this new laboratory and the country's importance to research.

For his part, the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz Gómez, gave details of Colombia's genomic network and the support they receive from different institutions.

“We have 21 strengthened genomics laboratories thanks to collaborative work with universities, research centers and public and private laboratories. An important effort in a society where it is difficult for us to work as a team, overcoming individualism.”

The head of the Health portfolio assured that the arrival of covid-19 in the world “aroused” the interest of countries in having sovereignty or health security against diseases and their possible treatments.

For his part, the Minister of Science, Tito José Crissien Borrero, referred to the government's commitment to investment in science and technology.

During the inauguration, Martha Ospina, director general of INS, outlined the path chosen by Colombia to implement a genomic surveillance strategy. Genomic sequencing, like many other technological capabilities in the pandemic, revealed the great differences between countries and continents.

During the event, the director of INS thanked the various entities of the national Government, the Ministry of Health, the Presidential Agency for International Cooperation (APC), the Ministry of Science, the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD); and beneficiary entities, such as the International Rotary Club, the Bank Central American Economic Integration (CABEI), the private company ANNAR, with its various donations and contributions, among others.

In total, INS managed more than 30 billion from various sources, for investment in higher-performance sequencing reagents, equipment and technologies, among other inputs.

“There is no doubt that the pandemic pushed hard for the country to catch up in twenty years of technological backwardness. Colombia has a genomic capacity that would not have been dreamed of two years ago. It would have taken us, and experts say so, twenty years to have it. Today, the country's genomic capacity is one of the great benefits of the pandemic,” concluded Martha Ospina.

This possibility of acquired genomic sequencing is not only useful in SARS-CoV-2, but in many other microorganisms. With the National Genomics Laboratory and the network of laboratories, the country will modernize surveillance as we know it today and will be able to make numerous accompaniments to public health surveillance and numerous contributions, from a research point of view. Summary of the origin and strengthening of genomic surveillance in the country.

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