Corona Test kit made by paper named "Feluda" will be commercialized by TATA Sons

 

Where at present we are talking about more test & more test But we are left with One option .i.e kit from China which costs Rs 4500. Ok lets side the value but the quality also is not at per, for this we have recently hared about the rejection of those kit. Now the impotent question is what option we left behind.

Now a fictional character is coming into play "Feluda"

 

Who is (no)/ What is ‘Feluda’?

A team led by two scientists of Bengali descent Dr Souvik Maiti and Dr DebojyotiChakraborty —, at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) of the Council of Science & Industrial Research in New Delhi, have invented a 

simple paper-based test strip which could reduce Covid-19 testing costs — the real-time polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) used currently requires machinery worth lakhs of rupees and its price is sure at Rs 4,500 in private labs, but in case of  ‘Feluda’ test cost would be as little as Rs 500.

It can be used in the same way like pregnancy test strips widely available over the counter

 

How does it work?(in layman word)

“like pregnancy test strips this strip will just change colour, and can be used in a simple pathological lab. The most important part is it will be 100 per cent accurate,” Mande had told 

Now who is Maned?

Shekhar Mande, the director general of CSIR who was awarded in 2005 the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, the highest science award in India, 

 also read: COVID-19 impact on automobile

How does it work?(in details)

Gene-editing technology

Mande and Chakraborty said the ‘Feluda’ kit uses CRISPR gene-editing technology to get results. This technology recognizes specific genetic sequences and cuts them in short time.

Maiti added: "Through a nasal swab, we get RNA samples of the virus from the patient.

 First a fall we convert the RNA to genetic material or you can say complimentary DNA (cDNA). Then we amplify it using a polymerase chain reaction (done on a simple PCR machine) and mix with a complex Cas9 protein. The Cas9 protein specifically binds to the DNA signature of the Covid-19 virus. At last, this mixture is applied on the paper based strip. if there is positive Covid-19 DNA, a line appears on the paper strip, 

Chakraborty: "If there is any existence of  viral RNA even in small amount, it will detect. The results are known within 1.5 hours. When we scale production of the testing kits, it could be even faster. This is a qualitative test, so it can tell you presence or absence rapidly, but if you want more quantitative data then you can always do that with a more sensitive RT-PCR technique"

For those, Who don't even understand any biological terms what they said, don't worry I am also like you just make it in your mind that it is a 'chemical locha'  & see this video how it has been done.

Now some person will hit me with their comment that this may be a copyright issue,wait I have a proof man. see this I took permission already from Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty.

 

why it has been named "Feluda"?

Dr Chakraborty said it would detect the presence of the novel coronavirus in just minutes, “just like Feluda” in Satyajit Ray’s stories and films. The reason behind the name ‘Feluda’ was because a  paper-strip test being developed by MIT and Harvard goes by the name ‘Sherlock’, after the famous [fictional] detective. So we wanted to give it an Indian flabour and decided to call it ‘Feluda’, after Bengal’s most famous detective character created by Satyajit Ray. Also ‘Feluda’ is an acronym for the scientific name of the test — Fncas9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay.

also read: COVID-19 impact: in Economy,But good news for India 

 

How much of effort went into putting together "Feluda"?

Chakraborty: "We had been working on a that from much earlier... to detect any DNA and RNA, bacterial and viral infections,and all the required factors related with it. In end-January we optimised our test to detect the Covid-19 RNA. By March we began testing it on patient samples with accurate results.

We decided to tackle it head on... even through the lockdown. Students volunteered and several stayed back on campus to work on this day and night."

 

What will be the cost of this test, and how accurate is it?

Maiti: "We can said the cost will be ₹500-700.The surety of the test is 100 per cent, . 

In this moment we are still testing "Feluda" on many patient . with this, we are approaching third-party validations, after which we’ll aim to have regulatory approval by the month end. After approval we can partner with companies to scale it up.

And guese what 

also read: Future of IT companies In india after Covid-19

 

Tata Sons has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for the ‘licencing of knowhow’ of a paper test kit for Covid-19, which could make mass testing for the novel coronavirus possible.

The licence shall include “transfer of the knowledge for scaling up the knowhow in the form of a kit”,which can be introduced for corona testing on the ground as soon as possible upto the end of May.

Banmali Agrawala, president, Infrastructure and Defence & Aerospace, Tata Sons, said: “We are glad that we can  enter into a partnership with IGIB of CSIR for further development.

 

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