Mechanical RNA extraction increases speed of testing of coronavirus in city
| Date :16-Apr-2020 |
By Vikas Vaidya :
Though Nagpur witnessed increase in corona positive cases in last four days the rate is not much as compared to other bigger cities. But one change is not being noticed by common public which they can’t as they are exposed to it. This change is about the increase in number of testing laboratories in city. At first only the laboratory at Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) was handling all the load. With the increase of load Government increased the laboratories too. Examination of throat swab samples is being done at three laboratories namely Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Nagpur.
The process of examination will further get momentum after the machine that does extraction of Ribonucleic acid (RNA). Due to lockdown the export and import came to standstill. This machine is expected to reach Nagpur in another two weeks. RNA is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA extraction is the purification of RNA from biological samples. RNA isolation from cells or tissues is the first step in a number of routine laboratory experiments to assess gene expression levels and is used in assays including quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).
At present RNA extraction is being done manually at all the three laboratories. Dr Ravindra Khadse, expert Microbiologist at IGGMCH said, “Mechanical RNA extraction will surely increase the speed. If in a particular time we do examination of 130 samples under manual RNA extraction, in the same time period we can examine 200 samples under mechanical RNA extraction.” Since Nagpur is getting several samples to examine, the speedy examination is very important.
This will help laboratories to get more number of samples examined at a faster rate and know the situation as early as possible. Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) is the agency that gives approval to laboratory to conduct examination of samples. It has made AIIMS, Nagpur as the mentor institute to guide Government Medical Colleges where laboratory does not exist. Right now in Maharashtra it is mentoring all GMCs excluding GMCH, IGGMCH, Mumbai, Pune. Recently, Centre of Zonosis at Nagpur Veterinary College and now laboratory at NEERI too came forward to shoulder the load. Departments of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Pharmacy of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University have come forward.
They have taken initiative to send a proposal to ICMR for getting permission to set up a Covid 19 testing facility centre at the campus. It would be made available to the public at large at an affordable price. There is lack of awareness about testing among common public. For example, everybody is surprised over the report of person, a resident of Chandrapur who came from Indonesia, tested positive after more than 15 days. If incubation period is 14 days then how come he tested positive after 14 days? According to experts, there are several aspects of the testing including the immunity of the person. The person who tested positive after more than 15 days might have good immunity so the virus that entered into his body responded to test a bit late. Dr Khadse told ‘The Hitavada’, “Some persons earlier tested negative and afterwards tested positive because the test on them was conducted a bit earlier. It does not mean all would come in the same category.”
CSIR-NEERI initiates to conduct COVID-19 tests
CSIR-NEERI has come forward to shoulder the massive responsibility of taking up the COVID-19 testing. The Environmental Virology Cell (EVC), there has taken this challenge of helping the testing and diagnostic health care set-up at Nagpur. Dr Krishna Khairnar, Senior Scientist and Head at EVC, is coordinating the COVID-19 testing. Dr Rakesh Kumar, Director CSIR-NEERI had supported the fight against COVID-19 by providing valuable guidance and sponsorship as a Major Lab Project. Dr Shekhar Mande, Director General, CSIR had been the key figure in ramping-up the CSIR labs throughout the country. CSIR-NEERI (Nagpur) had also been approved for conducting the COVID-19 testing. CSIR-NEERI has also been bestowed with a very important responsibility by Government of India for acting as a regional hub to facilitate capacity building and scaling up of testing facilities for COVID-19 in the region. Dr Rakesh Kumar, Director NEERI is overseeing this task and Dr Khairnar, is coordinating.