A promising technology developed by a Department of Science and Technology-funded laboratory to accelerate coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in India may be delayed for several more weeks.
The Chitra GeneLAMP-N developed by the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram, needs more confirmatory testing as well as changes in its configuration, officials said.
A protocol for pooled RT-PCR testing of COVID-19
The Chitra technology uses a method called Loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). The objective, like that of the gold-standard RT-PCR tests, is the same: to detect the presence of viral RNA. Both achieve this via a series of chemical transformations. The LAMP method is said to be faster but is a relatively newer technology, more complicated in its design and has not been tested extensively for COVID-19 detection.
N gene test
Most RT-PCR kits focus on two different genes, the