a chip that is able to quickly sequence or decode the genes in the flu virus and distinguish between the H1N1, seasonal, and mutated flu strains, at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS). a microkit for the detection and identification of the flu virus strain within 2 hours, at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN). a molecular diagnostic assay to distinguish between the H1N1 and seasonal flu strains, at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB).

The Singapore scientists' paper, "Mapping the sequence mutations of the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus neuraminidase relative to drug and antibody binding sites," was published in Biology Direct journal on 20 May 2009. Authors: Sebastian Maurer-Stroh1, Jianmin Ma1, Raphael Tze Chuen Lee1, Fernanda L Sirota1 and Frank Eisenhaber1,2

1Biomolecular Function Discovery Division, Bioinformatics Institute (BII), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 2Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Influenza A virus strains are categorized according to two proteins found on the surface of the virus: haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). All influenza A viruses contain haemagglutinin and neuraminidase. The structures of these proteins differ from strain to strain eg, swine flu belongs to the H1N1 type, avian flu to H5N1 and the currently dominant seasonal flu belongs to the H3N2 type.

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