Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute in Kerala develops diagnostic test for coronavirus

‘Chitra Gene Lamp’, a new and cheaper diagnostic test for the novel coronavirus infection developed by Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, bring hope in race to fight coronavirus pandemic. After the verification process, National Institute of Virology, Alapuzha, has reported to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) that the kits provided 100 per cent accuracy in the tests conducted at the Virology Institute. As many as 30 samples can be tested in one machine in a batch.

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram has developed a diagnostic kit named ‘Chitra Gene Lamp’ to test the novel coronavirus infection.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had authorised National Institute of Virology (NIV), Alappuzha under the Central Government, to verify the accuracy of the newly developed test kit. After the verification process, NIV has reported to ICMR that the kits provided 100 per cent accuracy in the tests conducted at the Virology Institute.

Once the ICMR and the Drugs Controller of India approve the new test kits, the ‘Chitra Gene lamp’ test kits can be produced on a large scale.

Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Amplification of viral nucleic acid (RT-LAMP) technique has been used in the Chitra Gene Lamp test kits. As the kit identifies the N- gene in the SARS Cov 2 virus, the tests will provide 100 per cent accuracy, claims Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute authorities.

The newly developed kits are one of the first among the test kits developed based on RT-LAMP method in the world.

The test kit which identifies the N gene in the SARS CoV-2 virus can also find the 2 regions in the N gene. This means, even if any genetic modification has happened in one region of the N gene, the test results will not be affected at all.

"The time taken for COVID testing can also be brought down drastically as the Chitra kits need only less than 2 hours to find the results from the time of sample collection. The cost is also low comparatively. One test would cost only less than Rs 1000 at the maximum," said the Sree Chitra authorities.

As many as 30 samples can be tested in one machine in a batch. This can also help in increasing the number of tests carried out each day. The same machine can be used in different shifts to do large scale testing. With these kits, the testing facility can be easily set up even in District hospital laboratories.

The institute, which has been approved by the ICMR for COVID 19 convalescent plasma therapy clinical trials, is awaiting the final nod from the Drugs Controller of India to begin plasma collection.