NUST establishes cheaper coronavirus diagnostics

Islamabad : At a time when the world is in the grip of an unprecedented pandemic –Novel Coronavirus(COVID-19) – and scientists and researchers are sparing no effort to ascertain remedies to this incurable disease, the scientists at NUST Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences (ASAB) have successfully established Molecular Diagnostic Assays for the detection of Novel Coronavirus, in collaboration with Wuhan Institute of Virology China, DZIF Germany, Columbia University USA and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) Rawalpindi.

The assays include both conventional and real time PCR-based methods of Sybr Green and Taqman. The assays have been efficiently tested on laboratory controls and patient sample. These indigenously established assays are robust, sensitive to the target, and would soon be available at 1/4th the price of imported ones. The team comprises Associate Professor Dr Aneela Javed and Assistant Professor Dr Ali Zohaib from NUST ASAB, who have been working on establishment of these assays for diagnosis of the pandemic the country is bracing itself for.