Canadian COVID-19 host genetics cohort replicates known severity associations.

The HostSeq initiative recruited 10,059 Canadians infected with SARS-CoV-2 between March 2020 and March 2023, obtained clinical information on their disease experience and whole genome sequenced (WGS) their DNA. We analyzed the WGS data for genetic contributors to severe COVID-19 (considering 3,499 hospitalized cases and 4,975 non-hospitalized after quality control). We investigated the evidence for replication of loci reported by the International Host Genetics Initiative (HGI); analyzed the X chromosome; conducted rare variant gene-based analysis and polygenic risk score testing.

A photonic platform for donor spin qubits in silicon.

Donor spins in silicon are highly competitive qubits for upcoming quantum technologies, offering complementary metal-oxide semiconductor compatibility, coherence () times of minutes to hours, and simultaneous initialization, manipulation, and readout fidelities near ~99.9%. This allows for many quantum error correction protocols, which will be essential for scale-up.