Assam lab isolates Covid-19 virus in tissue culture; 4th in country to do so
Other uses of cultures of SARS-CoV-2 include drug screening for potential drugs or drug candidates against the virus, testing effectiveness of disinfectants, use in development of therapeutic antibodies etc
A government laboratory in Assam has successfully isolated the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) virus becoming the fourth such facility in the country to achieve the feat.
Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) located in Lahowal in Dibrugarh district follows National Institute of Virology, Pune, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and Bharat Biotech, Hyderabad to be able to isolate the virus.
“The significance of Covid-19 virus isolation by team at RMRC, Dibrugarh is that live and viable SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19 virus) can now be produced in abundance in lab as and when required,” said a press release issued by RMRC-Dibrugarh.
“It is important for development of inactivated Covid-19 vaccine where virus grown in laboratory are inactivated by heat or chemical and purified for use as vaccines after pre-clinical and clinical trials,” it added.
Apart from vaccine development, other uses of cultures of SARS-CoV-2 include drug screening for potential drugs or drug candidates against the virus, testing effectiveness of disinfectants, use in development of therapeutic antibodies etc.
According to scientists at RMRC, Dibrugarh all strains of SARS-CoV-2 were L-type and not S-type, which is slowly disappearing across the world.
