UoM develops cost-effective Covid-19 detection kit

The University of Mysore (UoM) has added another feather to its cap. It has now designed an affordable Covid-19 test kit, in association with a private company.

A team led by former vice-chancellor of UoM K S Rangappa, also chemistry professor, designed the kit along with Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Lorven Biologics.

Rangappa made the announcement about the kit at a press conference on Monday.

The team members are S Chandra Nayak, coordinator, UoM, and C D Mohan, assistant professor, Department of Studies in Molecular Biology, UoM.

Dr Venkataramana, director, Lorven Biologics, was instrumental in the preparation of the kit and he provided the scientific and logistical support for it.

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“The kit will be sent to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, for approval. As the kit is designed by a state-run varsity, it will come at an affordable price,” he said.

He said, “We are dependent on rapid detection method and RT-PCR for diagnosis of Covid. Our kit can overcome the limitations associated with these methods. The need of the hour is to have a kit that can detect all mutant variants of the virus fast. We hope that the kit will be able to detect the virus in subsequent waves too. Any person with Covid symptoms can use this kit to test for the virus in body fluids like sputum, nasal secretions and saliva,”
he said.

“We are providing a barcode strip that is connected to a mobile application. As soon as the barcode is scanned, the status (positive/negative) is updated on the server, which enables the governing agency to monitor Covid-positive cases. Advanced technologies related to molecular biology, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence are used to develop the kit,” he said.

The team is also planning to formulate a drug for Covid in association with Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute.