IIT Alumni Council Partners With Mumbai University For Megalab Project To Fight COVID-19

Mumbai: IIT Alumni Council has partnered with Mumbai University in a move to expand its MegaLab Project, which intends to build the world’s largest infectious diseases testing lab to help fight the COVID-19 crisis and other diseases.

The MegaLab Project Mumbai proposes a capacity to make as many as 1 crore tests in a month, which will function from July with 1 lakh testing capabilities. It is supposed to reach full potential by October and will supposedly be the world’s largest dedicated molecular diagnostic and genetic testing facility. 

“The IIT Alumni Council is honoured to have Mumbai University as its partner for enabling a world-class healthcare infrastructure in Mumbai for testing infectious diseases including the new coronavirus, which has become a pandemic now,” the Council president, Ravi Sharma was quoted as saying by NDTV.

“Under the partnership, the students, faculty and research infrastructure of the university will act as the research backbone of the MegaLab project, which will be based on the end-to-end Kodoy indigenous technology stack and will have adequate capacity for testing the entire population of Mumbai for infectious diseases, each month,” he further added.

To procure viable long term solutions for the pandemic, the council has been motivating students, professionals, corporates, startups and academicians to align their energies in the quest to find innovative, low-cost and rapidly scalable cure.

The pro-vice-chancellor of Mumbai University, Ravindra Kulkarni, said the varsity has an outstanding track record in the area of biological and medical sciences. “Several doctors who are at the forefront in the fight against new coronavirus have been our alumni and we take pride in their contribution,” he remarked.

The council has already developed indigenous kits, which are in various stages of manufacturing and approvals, which are supposed to meet the entire requirement of developing countries, including India, China, ASEAN nations, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.