Mutations do not predict the severity of current variants
![](https://cipher.charlotte.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/241/2024/03/shirish-600x600.jpg)
New research from UNC Charlotte’s Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) has found that the two most prevalent strains of the virus that cause COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 variants BA.2.86 and JN.1, are not significantly better than their predecessor Omicron at evading immune responses and causing infections despite having a high number of mutations compared to previous variants.
The authors include: Shirish Yasa (featured here), Sayal Guirales-Medrano, Denis Jacob Machado, Colby T. Ford & Daniel Janies