A Delhi-based startup has developed a test to detect Covid’s Omicron variant using breakthrough technology.
Story so far: CrisprBits, a startup incubated by Bengaluru-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), has developed the ‘OmiCrisp’ test to detect covid, and find if it is caused by the Omicron variant. Currently, it is in use in a study to detect Omicron variants in sewage samples.
- The test has a 100% success rate in identifying Omicron and non-Omicron variants across 80 clinical samples.
- Bengaluru-based research institute inStem and research and diagnostics company Strand Life Sciences contributed to validating the test.
What’s the fuss? CrisprBits claims that its test is different from others in the Indian market that use RT-PCR signal drop-out to identify Omicron variants.
- OmiCrisp is built from CRISPR, a Nobel Prize-winning gene editing technology.
- As a detection system for nucleic signals, its accuracy suggests a bright future for the test. It should be capable of meeting the need for pervasive and distributed diagnostic platforms.