THD NewsDesk, New Delhi: For the ease of COVID-19 testing, a Mobile Infection Testing and Reporting (MITR) Lab has been developed by the faculty members of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in collaboration with an IISc-incubated startup called ShanMukha Innovations with approval from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). This is a part of 4-van series of which three vans are made ready in August 2020.
IISc, with support from an NGO named United Way Bengaluru and in partnership with corporate partners – Parexel International, Global Clinical Research Organization, State Street and Bharath Benz have initially designed this COVID-19 mobile diagnostic lab- Nodal Hub in August 2020. It is considered to be India’s first Biosafety Level two plus (BSL+2) compliant mobile diagnostic lab. The MITR Lab is equipped with infrastructures and instrument which allows health worker to collect, process and test samples using RT-PCR onsite and directly upload the result to ICMR portal. This RT-PCR testing is considered the gold standard for detection of the coronavirus.
Being the first of this MITR’s 4-van series, the lab is equipped with mini-spins, vortex mixers, centrifuge and pipettes. It includes-: M1- sample collection and inactivation, M2- RNA extraction, M3- RT-PCR testing, M4- Nodal Hub- a 20ft container intended for sample and kits storage, biomedical waste management and master mix preparation on a Bharat Benz chassis for the research purpose and vaccination drive as well. MITR Lab can functions as the independent testing unit with the recently launched CRISP FELUDA test by Tata Medical and Diagnostic Centre.
MITR Lab strictly adheres to World Health Organization (WHO) and ICMR guidelines for providing highest level of safety for technicians. “Mobilizing the caring power of communities is our ethos and United Way Bengaluru (UWBe) is grateful to our corporate partners who have believed in the same ethos and came forward to support the initiative”, said Rajesh Krishnan, Executive Director, UWBe.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Vyas, Senior Vice President, Indian Country Head and Managing Director, Parexel, said that “Parexel is pleased to support this important initiative bringing labs to patients”.
