COVID-19: DST approves funding for developing nasal passage gel

Vibha Sharma

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 8

The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), is supporting IIT Bombay for developing a gel that can be applied to nasal passage— a major entry point of the novel coronavirus.

The solution is not only expected to protect the safety of health workers but can also lead to reduction in community transmission of COVID-19, thereby helping disease management, said the DST

Given the contagious nature of COVID-19, health providers, including doctors and nurses are at maximum risk while taking care of patients, particularly asymptomatic ones who cannot be detected and pose a greater risk in spreading the disease.

The Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering (DBB) of the IIT Bombay is planning a 2-pronged approach to limit transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causative agent of COVID-19. Primarily, since viruses replicate within host cells of the lungs, the first component of the strategy will be to inhibit binding of viruses to host cells. While this is expected to reduce host cell infection, viruses will still remain active, therefore, raising the need to inactivate them.

Secondly, biological molecules would be incorporated, which would inactivate the trapped viruses in a manner similar to that of detergents. Upon completion, this approach will lead to development of gels that can be locally applied in the nasal cavity, said the DST

“The major challenges of testing for COVID-19 are speed, cost, accuracy and accessibility at the point-of-care or use. Several start-ups have developed rather creative and innovative ways to address these needs. DST is supporting the most promising of these to facilitate their development to commercialization chain if found suitable on technical grounds” said Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.

For early detection

On lines of existing universal platform “Omni-Sens” for early detection and screening of complex diseases (cancers, liver ailments and neonatal sepsis), FastSense Diagnostics has proposed a technology CovE-Sens specifically for COVID 19. A patent has been filed for CovE-Sens which would provide a rapid, point of care detection along with screening and confirmatory test as well with ease of operation.

Disinfected booth

Scientists at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), an autonomous institute of the DST, have designed and developed a disinfected barrier-examination booth for examining COVID-19 patients. The innovative disinfected examination booth is closed like a telephone booth for examining the patient without direct contact with the doctor to prevent transmission of infection. It is equipped with a lamp, table fan, rack, and Ultraviolet (UV) light, says the DST

Genome sequencing

Two institutes of Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad and Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi have started working together on the whole genome sequencing of coronavirus.