DBT supported program helps establish COVID-19 testing laboratory in Aizawl
The Mizoram government has established a COVID-19 testing laboratory at Zoram
Medical College in Aizawl. This establishment would certainly help in testing the COVID-19 samples in Mizoram. The faculty and research scholars associated with the Department of Biotechnology-sponsored Biotech Hubs in Mizoram played a vital role in offering infrastructure and other assistance for this endeavor.
Biotech Hub organizers and research scholars from Mizoram University (MZU),
Pachhunga University (PUC), Regional Institute of Paramedical and Nursing
Sciences (RIPANS) and Central Agricultural University (CAU) also provided technical assistance by holding demonstrations and training to the Medical College faculty and staff on how to utilize the COVID-19 test kit acquired from ICMR, New Delhi.
The four Biotech Hubs – MZU, PUC, RIPANS, and CAU had transported the ABI Real-Time PCR, BioRAD RT-PCR, and Roche RT-PCR machines, hot bath, micropipettes, and other minor tools and also consumables for use in the COVID-19 testing laboratory at the Medical College.
Mizoram University has also established a Molecular Biology study laboratory at Zoram Medical College through the DBT-North East Region MDR-TB project and its facilities – autoclave, cooling centrifuge, deep freezer, consumables as well as glassware are also used for the COVID-19 screening by the Zoram Medical College.
Till now, the Zoram Medical College has actually tested more than 12,000 suspected samples as well as is conducting tests regularly. Currently, during the movement of stranded individuals into Mizoram, more than 1000 samples are tested each day. Previously, for testing, the samples from Mizoram were sent out to Guwahati Medical College and Silchar Medical College.
The DBT is an Indian government department set up in 1986, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialization in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India.
DBT supported program helps establish COVID-19 testing laboratory in Aizawl
Author: Sruthi S
