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Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) being coordinated by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), as on 23rd March 2022 has sequenced 2,01,373 SARS-CoV-2 genomes.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), based on extensive scientific deliberations, initiated an integrated response to overcome the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, in alignment with R&D Blueprint of the World Health Organization (WHO).
He said DBT along with its public sector undertaking Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) launched ‘DBT-BIRAC COVID-19 Research Consortium’ whereby, Research and Development projects were supported across the thematic areas of vaccines and supporting ecosystem, diagnostics and facilities for scale-up, therapeutics, drug repurposing & supporting ecosystem, and other biomedical interventions.
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) was started jointly by the Department of Biotechnology and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Indian Council of Medical Research with the primary aim to expand whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 virus across the nation. Under National Biopharma Mission and Mission COVID Suraksha, the Department has enabled support for pre-clinical development of COVID-19 vaccine candidates and scale-up of manufacturing of COVID-19 diagnostic kits, facilities for animal challenge studies, facilities for immunogenicity assays, clinical trial sites etc.
The Minister informed that a total of 17 COVID-19 Bio-repositories have been notified by the Government of India. These are set up at laboratories of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). These COVID-19 Bio-repositories were established at:
1. ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune
2. ICMR-National Institute of Virology Field Unit, Bangalore
3. ICMR-National Institute of Virology Field Unit, Kerala
4. ICMR- National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata
5. ICMR-National Institute for Implementation Research on Non-Communicable Diseases, Jodhpur
6. ICMR- National Institute of Malaria Research, Delhi
7. ICMR- National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai
8. ICMR- National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai
9. ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh
10. NCR Biotech Science Cluster Translational Health Science and Technology Institute and Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad
11. Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar
12. Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bengaluru
13. National Centre for Cell Science, Pune
14. DBT funded Biorepository – Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi
15. CSIR- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi
16. CSIR- Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad
17. CSIR – Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh
