- Doctoral students: Mikail KELLECI (IHAP), Mortimer MEUNIER (INFINITy)
- Directed by Jean-Luc GUERIN, Jacques IZOPET
- Laboratories: Interactions Hôtes Agents Pathogènes - IHAP; Institut des Maladies Infectieuses et Inflammatoires - INFINITy
- Dates: from December 1, 2025 to November 30, 2028; and from January 2, 2026 to December 31, 2028.
Viral diseases represent a major health risk for both humans and animals. Rapid, robust identification and typing of viral agents is a scientific and medical priority, and calls for «pipelines» that combine molecular biology technologies and bioinformatics algorithms to assemble, annotate and compare genomes. The METAVIRAL project aims to develop and evaluate a monitoring system based on clinical metagenomic protocols using 3rd generation sequencing technologies, from sample handling to biological validation of results. One thesis project (ENVT-IHAP laboratory) focuses specifically on the a priori-free identification of viruses in different matrices; the other thesis project (CHU-INFINITy laboratory) concerns the analysis of variants that escape vaccination or treatment.