by Jayashree on June 9, 2021 at 10:07 PM Viruses are intriguing biological entities that are borderline between inanimate and living matter but tracing their origin remains as an important challenge for evolutionary biology. Even knowing COVID-19 virus variants in the laboratory before they emerge in nature can prevent major public health challenging pandemic conditions. New technology developed by the University of Queensland, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Monash University, and Queensland Health reported in journal Nature Communications to manipulate viruses synthetically allowing rapid analysis and mapping of new potential virus variants will be ideal to use during a global pandemic such as COVID-19.