Researchers from our partners, the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Kusuma School of Biological Science (KSBS), have developed a detection test for Covid-19 that has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The test has the ability to significantly reduce the cost of testing and make it affordable for a large number of people across India to access it.

The academic institution is the first to have obtained approval from the ICMR for a real-time PCR* based diagnostic test. The test has the ability to be easily scaled up at low cost as it does not require expensive fluorescent probes like other tests. The team at KSBS is now targeting large-scale deployment of the kit as soon as possible with potential industry partners.

We would like to congratulate the team at KSBS for their hard work and dedication in receiving approval for the test and wish them all the best in getting it mass produced. To read more about how our grant helped establish the KSBS click here.

 

* Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method used widely in molecular biology to make millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample rapidly, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it to a large enough amount to study in detail.