Hyderabad: During the initial outbreak of the pandemic, nobody knew how to diagnose the infection. At that point of time, RT-PCR tests were first conducted at Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) at a capacity of 1,000 tests a day.
From then on, the CCMB personnel have been coexisting with the novel coronavirus. For the first time in India, scientists have developed a synthetic virus in their lab to assess the efficiency of COVID-19 drugs and vaccines. Over time, the virus has mutated, resulting in different variants. The CCMB team has been monitoring these changes while continuing genome sequencing.
They have even developed dry swab COVID-19 kits. A total of 200 scientists, research students and administrative staff are working round the clock. The virus is an invisible enemy. The world is still grappling with it. But the team at CCMB has been at work for the past 14 months to ensure people’s safety. They are studying genetic mutations and protein spikes of the virus to make fresh breakthroughs.
Scientists and virologists have been at genome sequencing ever since the pandemic broke out in the country. During the initial stage, CCMB has studied the virus’s genetic sequence from the samples of research volunteers. At present, hundreds of volunteers have come forward for the study. Four types of research namely diagnostic tests, antibody enhancement, drug testing and genome sequencing are going on unperturbed. Scientists and research students alike are taking part in this research.
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They have focused on COVID-19 for the past year. They are studying virus samples from different states across the country, their variants and behavioural changes. Until December, they could sequence 1,000 genomes. Recently, they have sequenced an additional 1,500. They process samples from across the country and carry out up to 500 genome sequencing per week.
"We are constantly working with the goal of rapid discovery and analysis of the genomes. This is our biggest challenge at the moment. During the first wave, several members in our team got infected. But they recovered quickly. Since we research the viral RNA, there was nothing to be scared of. We have taken all the precautions both inside and outside the lab. It is important to be careful to dodge the virus ", said Divya Tej, Scientist at CCMB
Initially, nobody knew anything about the virus. "We were afraid too. Though we did not work in the lab, we got scared when few people tested positive for COVID-19. In fact, it is safer to work inside the lab. Since we take protective measures, there are negligible chances of contracting the virus there. We encourage ourselves while coordinating with the government while disclosing the diagnostic tests’ data", stated Karthik Bharadwaj, Scientist and Principal Clinical Geneticist, CCMB.
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During the first wave, there was little information or awareness about the diagnostic tests. They would train the government and private medical staff, continue testing and genome sequencing. Though some of them have been reinfected in the second wave, they are carrying on without panic, the scientists said. "We did not take a single leave in the past 14 months. The present crisis is what drives us to work our best. We perform up to 300 RT-PCR tests a day. Though we find it uncomfortable to wear PPE kits for hours together, we understand that it is inevitable", they said.
Dry swab kits are inexpensive and give quick results. They are extremely useful at this point when there is a shortage of testing kits. Along with this, CCMB’s automatic RNA extraction test can also speed up the testing process. Despite the advancements in testing technology to perform 10,000 tests at a time; there is a delay in sample collection and the average time taken to deliver the results. Using CCMB’s innovations, we can understand the spread of the virus in different communities according to the CCMB research group.
