Endosomal acidification inhibitors target SARS-CoV-2 entry and infection. Image by Chaitra Prabhakara; Design by Chaitra Prabhakara and Sowmya Jahnavi. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on global public health with crippling socioeconomic consequences. The goal of containing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 – the virus causing COVID-19 still relies on a comprehensive strategy of rapid testing of the virus in the population, effective treatments, and the development of therapeutics to prevent the spread of the infection.

“Our work is completely in vivo, which means we need our mice to do our experiments. All experiments have come to a sudden pause and work is greatly affected.

A major project has been launched to indigenously manufacture, in bulk quantities and at much lower costs, all reagents needed for RT-qPCR-based and other molecular methods of diagnostics of Covid-19. The Rockefeller Foundation has provided financial support for the project executed by the Bangalore Life Science Cluster, which would improve access to Covid-19 diagnostics across the country. 

We all remember the early days when the news of the COVID-19 pandemic was being discussed over chai. Months have passed since the pandemic has turned into a worldwide crisis bringing daily routines to a grinding and extended halt.  In a country that numbers over a billion, the second most populated nation of the world, India was standing at a precipice, staring down at an unimaginable healthcare crisis fearing morbidity and mortality. Then came the lockdown and the slow ticking of the numbers on the ever-climbing graph of COVID-19 cases.