“I am very pleased to see that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research through its laboratories, the IGIB, and other centres have developed a rapid COVID testing kit that is efficient and can quickly be deployed widely. It is such partnerships and innovation which can result in rapid testing, contact tracing, and isolation so that the lives and livelihood of people can go on. It’s great to see that the Tata sons have taken up this initiative and combined it with an extraordinary logistical and analytical backend to help spread this innovation all over India and the world. Kudos to everyone involved; the Tata Sons and the CSIR.”

“When the pandemic hit India in early March, we had a very limited number of laboratories, and RT-PCR was the gold standard. I am delighted that, Tata MD CHECK is going to be a path-breaking CRISPR based technology, which will be a shot in the arm of India’s COVID testing strategy and will also contribute immensely towards India’s 5T strategy towards the COVID pandemic – Testing, Tracking, Tracing, Treating, and the use of Technology. I wish this technology all the success.”

“I am very pleased that Tata MD CHECK based on the FELUDA platform has been launched. This is a great example of academia along with industry partnership and is a terrific illustration of CSIR and Tata’s partnership. Tata MD CHECK is a fast diagnostic tool, is cost-effective, and very easy to use. We are extremely proud of this innovation and thrilled to have further strengthened our partnership with Tata with this project. I wish everyone involved in this project and Tata MD a very successfully run – looking forward to many more collaborations in the coming time.”

“From the time when FELUDA, the lab technology of CSIR-IGIB has become Tata MD CHECK, a world-class diagnostic product– it has been an extremely enriching journey. We had a very promising technology based on CRISPR for which the 2020 Nobel-prize in Chemistry was awarded for genome editing. We have applied this technology towards diagnosing the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19. This initiative will provide access to testing for people in far-flung areas where expensive machines may not be available. Our partners, Tata Medical and Diagnostics that have supported us in every step of the entire process.”

“Our Atmanirbhar program has been supported by the Tata Group by developing a novel CRISPR Cas-9 test kit, based on FELUDA for COVID-19 testing in India. The CRISPR Cas-9 test is the pride of India – having been innovated and developed in partnership by Tata Medical and Diagnostics and CSIR-IGIB in India. The test has been approved by the ICMR that confirms it to be a big breakthrough in COVID-19 testing for the masses. The test is simple and delivers results very quickly – with accuracy on par with q-PCR tests.”

“CRISPR Cas9 technology allows anybody to change the genetic material DNA/RNA or can be used to correct genetic disorders. While working to correct single sickle cell anaemia disease we came out with a particular Cas9 protein and noticed that this CRISPR Cas9 protein has a unique ability to distinguish a different signature in nucleic acid. With the onset of the pandemic, we realized that we could fine-tune this technology to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus and thus FELUDA was born. We were extremely proud to receive an all-clear from the ICMR as well as the DCGI, India’s highest medical regulatory bodies for commercial launch of this COVID-19 diagnostic tool as Tata MD CHECK . I am extremely happy with the partnership between IGIB and Tata MD. I look forward to many more collaborative projects.”

“The FELUDA technology uses a regular PCR machine which is extremely cost-effective– this means that testing can be ramped up almost 20 times at places using a regular PCR machine. The test uses a combination of CRISPR technology and paper strip chemistry. We are very excited and hopeful that this innovation will help take more testing to the ground – to places where q-RT-PCR is unable to reach, and places where COVID testing must be ramped up.”

“We can proudly say that we are the first lab in the country that has been approved for CRISPR Cas-9 based technology for COVID testing. Tata MD CHECK is very user-friendly compared to the currently available RT-PCR method and technology. Results are uncomplicated to analyze, produced within two hours, and do not require highly skilled lab technicians or lab equipment to conduct – making it extremely cost-effective. Further to this Tata MD CHECK’s ability to be conducted in a remote facility makes testing possible in villages and far-flung areas, directly making testing accessible to more people.”

“I would like to thank the Tata MD team for taking this opportunity to work with a brand-new technique called CRISPR FELUDA. This technique is as good as the RT-PCR that is currently in use for COVID-19 testing. The pipetting automation technique is extremely beneficial, this technique does away with an extremely prone human error process i.e., manual pipetting. Further to this, the automation of reporting where results are directly uploaded to the ICMR portal helped streamline the entire testing process. Tata MD’s CRISPR FELUDA technique along with the mobile van is very beneficial for large-events that require large-volume testing in a day.”

“By identifying areas where there was a high volume of people – we, along with the help of Tata Medical and Diagnostics strategically set up testing centres. Using Tata MD CHECK, tests were conducted at these strategic high traffic areas in and around Hairdwar. With its quick turnaround time, results were delivered made available, and we were further able to detect and control the spread of the COVID-19”.

“A simple and beautiful technology that fully automates the wet lab testing process; this along with Tata’s AI-driven data interpretation helps save valuable time, especially when handling a large number of samples. With sensitivity and specificity on par with the golden standard real-time PCR technology. We have personally experienced testing over 700 samples in under 12 hours. A truly amazing technology combined with stellar support from Tata team has made COVID testing seamless, accurate, and quick.”

“Tata MD CHECK based on cutting edge CRISPR technology is playing a pivotal role in COVID-19 testing. The technology is fast, providing a testing turnaround time of under 4 hours. We are extremely proud that Tata in partnership with CSIR-IGIB has developed this indigenous testing capability. Soon this technology can further serve as a diagnostic tool in other fields such as oncology and multiple other infectious parameters.”