DST start-up launches indigenous fluorescence probes used in RT-PCR tests

The VNIR Biotechnologies Private Limited, a spin-off by JNCASR under the Department of Science and Technology, has launched indigenous fluorescence probes, one of the critical components in RT-PCR test kits used in coronavirus diagnosis, a statement said on Sunday.

A typical PCR based test kit has three critical components--oligos, enzymes and molecular probes.

“The first two components (oligos, enzymes) are partly available in India and partly imported, while molecular probes used in Covid-19 tests are only imported. The molecular probes are used to track the amplification in PCR kits,” the statement said.

Their immediate application is for Covid-19 testing, but they are general-purpose molecular tools for molecular diagnostic tests of several diseases, it said.

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The molecular probes were developed by Prof T Govindaraju and Meher Prakash, the co-founders of VNIR.

The VNIR Biotechnologies Private Limited is incubated at Bangalore Bio-innovation Centre (BBC) of the Karnataka government. It is a spin-off by the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) under the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

“We took up the risk and the challenge. Our team went back to the drawing board and planned the synthesis of these much-required probes for the Covid-19 tests.

“VNIR's R&D effort in line with the Make-In-India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat missions of the Government of India are meant to contribute to self-reliance in Covid-19 testing,'' Govindaraju said.

Molecular diagnostic tests used to be limited to research laboratories or for limited applications.

“Covid-19 has presented a unique problem that the finest level of molecular diagnostic test has to be performed almost at a complete population level if needed. Given the scale of tests required for Covid-19, it is very important to become self-reliant with the critical test kit components,” the statement added.

“The probes for RT-PCR based Covid--19 test is an excellent example of leveraging our basic science knowledge for development of critical new products that are until now being imported. Nor is this knowledge limited to one particular virus, but would help us rapidly develop molecular diagnosis in the future for other viruses as well,” Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST said.