Scientists chase new tools to fight Covid-19

Hyderabad: Scientists, supported by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), are working on six innovative ideas to develop rapid testing and diagnostic tools for Covid-19. These innovations have been selected from nearly 40 proposals.

Development of a cost-effective, single-tube screening test for Covid-19, developing a rapid point of care test for detection of IgM and IgG antibodies to Covid-19 and one-step nucleic acid amplification for detection of Covid-19 are among some of the ideas being worked upon.

Currently, the industry standard of testing are based on reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratory technique, which requires expensive equipment and makes testing a costly affair. “Three of the projects are trying to develop a rapid way of testing and improving the sensitivity of the tests by using simpler methods. We hope with these, the cost of testing will come down,” CCMB-Atal Incubation Centre chief executive officer Dr N Madhusudhana Rao said.

“These research projects (by scientists and start-ups) could be beneficial in stage one of developing screening platforms for the virus. The six projects were chosen for their feasibility. An optimised financial support is being extended to each of the six projects to see if the projects are viable or not,” Dr Rao added.