For four weeks now, I have been working on a remote project supervised by Prof Iain McEwan. I am using different databases to explore the regulation of the human ACE2 gene, which codes for a protein implicated in COVID-19. My hope is to discover regulatory sequences of ACE2, as well as explain gender and age-related differences in SARS-CoV-2 infections.
So far, I have read through a lot of literature, mapped the ACE2 promoters and searched the UCSC Genome Browser for enhancers (see picture). I am having a wonderful time working on this project and with Prof McEwan´s great team!
For me, lockdown has turned out to be the perfect time to learn new computer-based skills and do some literature research.
