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COVID-19 Timeline

22^nd March

Training

Trained over 200 people in CCMB and other organizations (medical hospitals, universities and research institutes)

31^st March

Testing

CCMB has tested about 25,000 samples so far.

3^rd April

Coronavirus culturing

The culture is used for vaccine and antisera development, and testing antiviral drugs and sanitization measures.

6^th April

Genome sequencing of coronavirus

Genomes of ~500 Indian isolates of coronavirus sequenced. >300 submitted to GISAID. Found an uncharacterized population of coronavirus (Clade A3i), which had spread but eventually faded away. Finding submitted to bioRxiv. Finds the current prevalent strain in India matches the globally prevalent strain â€“ Clade A2a.

13^th April

Validation of COVID-19 testing kits

CCMB has validated 25 products so far. 10 more under validation

1^st May

Multiple partnerships with industries

Partners with VINS BioProducts, INTEL, IIIT, Bharat Biotech, Syngene among others in developing COVID-19 testing methods and therapeutics.

20^th May

Development of dry swab one-step PCR test for COVID-19

Validated by DBT-CDFD and IISER-Berhampur. Posted preprint on Jun 1st. Sent recommendations to ICMR on Jun 4th and office of Principal Scientific Advisor on Jun 13th. Questions raised by ICMR on Jul 20 replied in a day. Approval still awaited from ICMR to use the method as an alternate testing method in India. Published in Oxford Academic Biology Methods & Protocols.

1^st June

Development of NGS-based COVID-19 testing

Pilot run in Telangana and Karnataka with (x) number of samples

19^th June

Hybridoma preparation for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies are in development

1^st July

Wastewater-based COVID-19 mass surveillance

Estimates at least 6% of Hyderabad's population has shed the coronavirus in the month of July. Finding submitted to medRxiv.

About CCMB

The Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) is a premier research organization in frontier areas of modern biology. The objectives of the Centre are to conduct high quality basic research and training in frontier areas of modern biology, and promote centralised national facilities for new and modern techniques in the inter-disciplinary areas of biology.

CCMB was set up initially as a semi-autonomous Centre on April 1, 1977 with the Biochemistry Division of the then Regional Research Laboratory (presently, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, IICT) Hyderabad forming its nucleus and Dr P M Bhargava heading the new Centre. CCMB moved to its present campus on November 26, 1987.

Research

CCMB conducts exploratory research addressing the fundamental questions in biology. It also seeks to develop technology based on the basic research findings towards the unmet societal needs of the country.

Today / upcoming at CCMB