GBRC’s genetic library of SARS-CoV-2 data. The GBRC is also part of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG). The organization now intends to turn this method into a kit and submit it for approval and commercial usage clearance to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). During a news conference in Gandhinagar, additional Chief Health Secretary Manoj Agrawal highlighted GBRC’s advancement in the innovative project.
Professor Madhavi Joshi, Joint Director of GBRC, detailed the newly invented technique. He said, “We have devised a simple PCR-based method where if a sample is run, it will first tell if it is Covid 19 positive and will also tell whether it is an Omicron variant of the virus or not. Omicron variants contain so many mutations so we selected a region in the spike protein-specific mutation that only GBRC has developed a method for detecting omicron variants within 8 h”.
Joshi added, “If the sample has an Omicron type. That PCR can detect omicrons within eight hours. Similar PCR could be developed or this technique could be used to detect other variants with specific mutations—not prevalent in any other lineage—such as delta.” Gujarat has identified four COVID-19-positive individuals carrying the Omicron variant thus far.
According to Joshi, the outcomes of this approach were optimized just this week, marking the end of the method’s development phase. Joshi further shared about the plans to commercialize the kit. He said, “We will first transmit a scientific paper of the method developed by us so that it can be validated elsewhere in their samples and then we will validate the kit with ICMR so that it can be made commercially available everywhere.”
