JNU to develop device for COVID-19 tests

JNU to develop device for COVID-19 tests

‘University aims at demonstrating first prototype in 4 months’

12/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

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.

“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.