Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Nov 12: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today disclosed that one lakh Genome and DNA sequencing has been done for COVID-19 so far by the Department of Bio-Technology (DBT) and 5 COVID19 Biorepositories with 57,000 samples were made available to academia and industry for R&D and Product development.
The Minister was presiding over a high level meeting to review the current status of COVID-19 research, development of vaccines and other protocols as well as the contribution made in this direction by each of the Autonomous Institutions of the Department of Bio-Technology located in different parts of the country.
Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister, Science and Technology Department, Govt. of Odisha and Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister in-charge of Higher Education, Government of Delhi also attended the meeting on behalf of Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar and National Institute for Plant Genome Research, (NIPGR), New Delhi.
Dr Jitendra Singh announced that “A Vaccine Testing and Research Facility will come up at the second campus of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) and this center will also have a BSL 3 facility which is capable of handling airborne viruses like Covid-19. This facility will be the first of its kind in South India.
The second campus of the RGCB, to be named as “Shri Guruji Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar National Centre for Complex Disease in Cancer and Viral Infection, ” is expected to be ready for dedication to the nation in the next few months. The campus is coming up at Akkulam in the city.
Dr Jitendra Singh also said that RGCB will be developed as a hub for research and testing of multiple vaccines such as cancer vaccine and those for infectious diseases, including Covid-19. “This will bring huge recognition for RGCB in the specific area of vaccine research and development.” The Minister also lauded the RGCB’s model of supporting both innovative research and Biotechnology incubation facilities.
Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Dr Rajesh Gokhale informed that taking note of the unprecedented scenario of the COVID19 pandemic, DBT prepared a roadmap early on with a focus on diagnosis, treatment and most importantly, prevention. It has supported 100 projects in the thematic areas of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar informed that it is one of the three institutes in the country that has established and characterized 22 virus cultures including Delta and Delta Plus. ILS has also established a Biorepository for 3000 COVID-19 clinical samples containing serum, plasma, saliva, blood, urine and stool as a National Resource Centre for research by academia and Start-ups for commercial product developments.
Director of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram informed that the Centre has been recognized as a credible vaccine testing facility in the country and a team from ICMR recently visited and approved the same.
Heads and Directors of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting & Diagnostics, (CDFD), Hyderabad, Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar, National Institute for Plant Genome Research, (NIPGR), New Delhi, Institute of Bioresources & Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal took part in today’s meeting.
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