IIT Delhi & NCL Pune developing an ELISA-based assay for COVID-19 testing

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) and National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) Pune join hands to create an economical process for manufacturing the antigens used in ELISA and home-based diagnostic kits to offer effective, quick, robust and affordable diagnostic solutions to fight COVID-19 outbreak. The initiative is being funded by Microsoft.

The two institutions are developing ELISA-based assays for qualitative measure of human anti-COVID-19 IgG and IgM antibodies in serum. Risks related to RT-PCR-based methods are minimized by developing IgG and IgM-based ELISA assays and home-based testing kits. ELISA for the detection of COVID-19 is helpful in diagnosis of current burden of COVID-19 patient samples in this ongoing pandemic. The resulting assay is expected to provide robust, quick, reliable and economical solution for mass testing of novel coronavirus. This novel expression system will aid private sector companies to provide home-based detection kits economically. This project is spearheaded by Prof. Anurag S. Rathore, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Delhi and Dr. Rahul Bhambure, NCL, Pune.