Author: Biotech Express

Celemics, a Korean manufacturer of targeted capture kits for next-generation sequencing, is combining its bioinformatics pipeline with analytics technology from Strand Life Sciences to help researchers go from sample to report using a single technology platform. Under terms of the partnership, Bengaluru, India-based Strand Life Sciences will integrate the Celemics pipeline into its StrandOmics tertiary analysis platform. This integrated offering will include assay-specific variant filters to provide “guaranteed” clinical-grade data compliance for researchers in cancer and rare diseases, according to the companies. Strand Life Sciences is a global bioinformatics and genomic profiling company established in 2000. Strand Life Sciences, formed…

The Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi (IIT Delhi) on Friday launched a rapid diagnostic kit for conducting Covid-19 test at a price point of Rs 50 a piece. Authorities and researchers claimed that this will boost testing in rural India given its affordability, easy to use and effectiveness in temperature as high as 35 degree to 37 degree Celsius. The kit developed by centre for biomedical engineering at the IIT Delhi has been approved by the Indian Council of Medial Research (ICMR). The test kit has been licensed to Delhi-based Dia Sure Immunodiagnostic LLP for mass manufacturing and marketing.…

DIVOC Health has received an import license from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for Genedrive 96 SARS-CoV-2 testing kits in India, the startup said in a statement. It also said that the Genedrive 96 SARS-CoV-2 Kit has been designed by molecular diagnostics Genedrive located in the United Kingdom, and has also received formal approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). On receiving the approval, Dr Kanav Kahol, founder and CEO, DIVOC Health, said, “We thank the diagnostic division of the Ministry of Health for considering our proposal and allowing us to deliver quality results to the…

Genetic sequences from more than 200 virus samples of early Covid-19 cases mysteriously disappeared from an online scientific database. A researcher in Seattle reported the recovery of 13 of those original sequences. While the Fred Hutchison Cancer Center researcher, Jesse Bloom, clarifies that the sequences themselves do not definitively answer the question of origin, it does show that the samples being used to investigate may not be complete. The files had been uploaded to a U.S. National Institutes of Health database in March 2020. But the NIH received a request from the investigator who submitted to delete the sequences three…

Following the controversial statement on allopathy, the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) offensive stance against Swami Ramdev continues. After complaints from the PMM and defamation case of 1000 crores, a complaint has been lodged against them in Delhi and now in Chhattisgarh’ as well. On behalf of the IMA, the Secretary-General, Dr. Jayesh Lele has filed this complaint. In the complaint given in Delhi’s IP State Police Station, IMA said that Swami Ramdev is raising doubts about the vaccine in the minds of people, obstructing the work of government employees. The complaint letter further states, ‘Ramdev and his associates have done…

The Haridwar district administration ordered a probe after reports emerged that over one lakh fake tests were conducted during the religious gatherings. According to reports, the labs apparently did so to meet the daily testing quota of 50,000 tests set by Uttarakhand High Court. Twenty-two private labs had been hired to conduct Covid testing during Kumbh MelaHundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered in the city of Haridwar for a ritual bath in the Ganges River between April 1 and April 30, amid a massive surge in coronavirus cases during the second wave. The violation of Covid-19 protocols at the gathering…

Celemics (www.celemics.com) co-founder and CEO Dr. Hyoki Kim announced a partnership with Strand Life Sciences, a leading precision medicine informatics company, to develop a bioinformatics solution capable of providing users with an accelerated means of producing high-quality, in-class clinical genomics reports and enabling a complete sample-to-answer solution, including assay-specific variant filters. Under the agreement, Strand Life Science will integrate the Celemics bioinformatics pipeline into the StrandOmics tertiary analysis platform to enable Celemics with a complete sample-to-report solution. Leveraging the StrandOmics platform, Celemics plans to serve an expanding global market with clinical-grade data compliance and guaranteed data residency for customers in…

India’s leading virologists have called for better genome sequencing after it was confirmed that a further mutation has been detected in the already “more transmissible” Delta variant. The Delta variant, or B.1.617.2, was first identified in India and responsible for the surge in cases and deaths during the country’s second wave. It is now also the dominant strain in the UK with up to 91 per cent of new infections, and experts say it is rising in prominence in the US too. Dr Vinod Scaria, a Delhi-based scientist with CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), said that the new…

A senior American diplomat assured that the Indian students will not require any proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter the US, as quoted by PTI. ‘’They will need a negative report of their COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours prior to their departure,” he added. Indian students will not require proof of COVID-19 vaccination instead a negative report of their COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours is sufficient to enter USAThe US embassy started giving US visa interview slots for Indian students from Monday. And since then there has high demand for student visa appointments. As the applicants are trying…

Having spent most of my time in understanding the fundamentals of plant biology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and in some of the laboratories in USA and Germany, I moved to the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi in 1997, where I got more effectively involved in gene function studies and plant transformation. The aim of the group that I was heading at ICGEB was to understand the mechanisms and to develop abiotic and biotic stress tolerant plants. Thus tools of modern biology and plant biotechnology became part of my career. In 2004, I…