Mega labs to boost COVID-19 testing

‘Mega labs’ to boost COVID-19 testing

Introduction:

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is working on developing mega labs to ramp up testing for COVID-19 as well as improve the accuracy rate.
The labs will be repurposing large machines, called Next Generation Sequencing machines (NGS).

Advantages:

The mega labs will sequence 1,500 to 3,000 viral genomes at a go to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Used optimally and with appropriate modifications, these machines can substantially detect the presence of the virus even in several instances where the traditional RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) tests fail.
The genome method can read a bigger chunk of virus genome and provide more certainty that the virus in question is indeed the particular coronavirus of interest.
It can also trace the evolutionary history of the virus and track mutations more reliably.
While RT-PCR needs primers and probes (a key hurdle in operationalizing such tests on a mass scale early on in the pandemic), the NGS only needs custom reagents.

What is Next Generation Sequencing ?

NGS – massively parallel or deep sequencing are related terms that describe a DNA sequencing technology which has revolutionised genomic research.
NGS are normally used for sequencing human genomes.
Using NGS an entire human genome can be sequenced within a single day.

Source: TH

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