JNU Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar on Monday said that the university has been given approval to carry out a project on COVID-19 testing that will be an alternative to RT-PCR test.
Mr. Kumar said that Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, a public sector enterprise set up by Department of Biotechnology, has given its nod to JNU under diagnostics category to develop a low-cost portable device for large-scale screening of the viral infections.
The V-C said that currently, the detection of COVID-19 infection is being mostly done by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) by using a real-time PCR machine, a very accurate lab test for detecting, tracking and studying the virus. However, this technology is expensive, requires high-end laboratory-based equipment and is time-consuming. He added that there is also a need of expert personnel to operate the instrument and perform the testing at the laboratory reducing its capacity of sample handling per day.
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“To overcome the cost and other disadvantages of the conventional methods, a team from the School of Biotechnology, JNU, has designed a chip-based low-cost portable spatial RT-PCR where the PCR has been integrated with an in-built detection system containing LED and diode detector enabling us to perform a point-of-care measurement,” the V-C said.
He added that JNU has already filed an Indian Patent application on this technology that can complete the testing in about 50 minutes as compared to 120-180 minutes required for conventional real-time PCR. The V-C added that the university was targeting to demonstrate the first prototype testing device in about four months.