17 COVID-19 Bio-repositories have been notified by Government of India

A total of 17 COVID-19 Bio-repositories have been notified by Government of India on 23-05-2020. These are set up at laboratories of Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The list of Bio-repositories is given below.

A total of 90,361 samples (Serum, Nasopharyngeal swab, Plasma, Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells etc.) have been archived so far across the 17 National COVID19 bio-repositories. 11,650 samples have been archived in ICMR COVID-19 bio-repositories, 41,239 samples have been archived in DBT COVID-19 bio-repositories and 37,472 samples have been archived in CSIR COVID-19 bio-repositories.

These samples are being used to develop validated diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines etc. for COVID19 prevention, control and treatment. Additionally the samples are a valuable resource for research and development related activities to understand the early predictors of disease severity, immunopathogenesis of the disease etc.

List of COVID-19 Bio-repositories notified by Government of India:

COVID-19 Bio-repositories at DBT institutes:

1.       DBT-NCR Biotech Cluster- Translational Health Science and Technology Institute & Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad

2.       DBT- Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar

3.       DBT – Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore

4.       DBT funded Biorepository – Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi

5.       DBT- National Centre for Cell Science, Pune

COVID-19 Bio-repositories at ICMR institutes:

6.       ICMR- National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune

7.       ICMR-NIV Field Unit, Bangalore

8.       ICMR-NIV Field Unit, Allapuzha, Kerala

9.       ICMR- National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata

10.     ICMR- National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad

11.     ICMR- National Institute for Implementation Research on Non-Communicable                Diseases, Jodhpur

12.     ICMR- National Institute of Malaria Research, Delhi

13.     ICMR- National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai

14.     ICMR- National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai

COVID-19 Bio-repositories at CSIR institutes:

15.     CSIR – Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, N. Delhi

16.     CSIR – Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad

17.     CSIR – Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh

This information was given by the Minister of Science & Technology; Earth Science and Health & Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan in the Lok Sabha today.