====== Nathan Zelyas ======

{{ :public_health_agencies:canada:dr-nathan-zelyas-omicron-screening-alberta.png?200|}}

Dr. **Nathan Zelyas** is a medical microbiologist in Alberta, Canada. He is one of "about 20" such specialists in the province.((Weltz, L. (2020, May). //Always on alert for health threats.// Alberta Doctors’ Digest. https://archive.ph/7akGj/))

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Zelyas supported the implementation of molecular diagnostic testing for [[:SARS-CoV-2]] infections in Alberta.((Poliquin, G., Forgie, S., Zelyas, N., & Charlton, C. (2021). //Challenges in COVID-19 Laboratory Testing.// Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (AMMI) Canada (p. 3). Public Health Agency of Canada. https://ammi.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CUPA-TEA-Challenges-in-COVID-19-diagnostics-FINAL.pdf))
===== Affiliations =====

==== Alberta Health Services ====

Zelyas is the Provincial Laboratory representative for the [[AHS COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group]] under [[Alberta Health Services]].((//2019-nCoV Scientific Advisory Group.// (2021, May 27). Alberta Health Services. https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/ppih/if-ppih-covid-19-sag-terms-of-reference.pdf))

==== Alberta Precision Labs ====

Zelyas is a Medical Microbiologist at [[:Alberta Precision Laboratories]], and is the APL Public Health Program leader for Respiratory Viruses.((Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Laboratory Update. (2020, January 31). Alberta Health Services; Alberta Precision Laboratories. https://archive.ph/wph4a))

==== University of Alberta ====

Zelyas is Program Director for the Medical Microbiology Residency Program at the [[:University of Alberta]].((//Contact | Laboratory Medicine and Pathology.// University of Alberta. Retrieved January 10, 2022, from https://archive.ph/NKRka))

===== Publications =====

  * [[https://www.campfire.wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=public_health_agencies:canada:spectrum.00315-21.pdf|August 11, 2021]]: //Precision Response to the Rise of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 Variant of Concern by Combining Novel PCR Assays and Genome Sequencing for Rapid Variant Detection and Surveillance//((Zelyas, N., Pabbaraju, K., Croxen, M. A., Lynch, T., Buss, E., Murphy, S. A., Shokoples, S., Wong, A., Kanji, J. N., & Tipples, G. (2021). //Precision Response to the Rise of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 Variant of Concern by Combining Novel PCR Assays and Genome Sequencing for Rapid Variant Detection and Surveillance.// Microbiology Spectrum. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.00315-21))
    * Funded by the [[:Canadian COVID-19 Genomics Network]] (CanCOGeN) supported by [[:Genome Alberta]] and [[:Genome Canada]].
    * The Board of Directors for [[:Genome Canada]] includes representatives from [[:pharmaceutical_Companies:Bayer]], [[:Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]], the United States [[:National Institutes of Health]], [[:Shell]], [[:SickKids]], and the [[:University of Oxford]]. They also received funding from [[:BIOTECanada]] ([[:pharmaceutical_companies:AstraZeneca]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:Biodextris]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:GlaxoSmithKline]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:IMV]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:Janssen]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:Medicago]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:Merck]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:Pfizer]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:Sanofi]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:Valneva]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:VBI Vaccines]], [[:pharmaceutical_companies:Virica Biotech]], and [[:pharmaceutical_companies:VIDO-Intervac]]).((BIOTECanada. (2021, October 15). //Canada’s Vaccine Industry Committee.// Retrieved December 6, 2021, from http://www.biotech.ca/policy-matters/health/canadas-vaccine-industry-committee/))

===== Media Appearances =====

==== CBC News ====

  * Omicron surveillance key as Alberta tries to control new, worrying variant((Lee, J. (2021, December 7). //Omicron surveillance key as Alberta tries to control new, worrying variant.// CBC News; CBC/Radio-Canada. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/omicron-surveillance-alberta-1.6275783))