Why in news?
Team of scientists from IIT Delhi developed the COVID 19 probe – free Real-time PCR Diagnostic Kit.
Details
- This is the first probe-free assay for COVID-19 approved by ICMR and it will be useful for specific and affordable high throughput testing.
- The assay has been validated at ICMR with a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. This makes IITD the first academic institute to have obtained ICMR approval for a real-time PCR-based diagnostic assay.
- This assay can be easily scaled up as it does not require fluorescent probes. The team is targeting large scale deployment of the kit at affordable prices with suitable industrial partners as soon as possible.
- The kit will not only empower healthcare services but also support the government in the time of crisis.
Assay
An assay is an analysis done to determine: The presence of a substance and the amount of that substance.
An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine, pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a target entity (the analyte).
