New Delhi: CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow has inked an MoU for collaborative research in COVID-19 with King George Medical University, Lucknow to sequence the virus strains that are from patient samples in Uttar Pradesh. A team has been put into place for analyzing whether changes to the viral sequences, if any, will impact proposed treatment strategies. It is known that at least 8 different variants of the virus are causing the COVID-19 infection. Initially, a few patient samples will be sequenced. Digital and Molecular Surveillance will be carried out on the basis of this work.
Apart from that, the Target-based screening systems too shall be initiated. CSIR-CDRI has a diverse library of molecules and these have been screened using in silico approaches against a panel of drug targets from Covid Sars-2. The identified hits will be evaluated in a preliminary drug-target based screen (primary screen). The m-protease, CL-proteinase, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, Spikeprotein-ACE2 system, and other targets are presently being worked on. Their binding/ inhibition will also be evaluated in in vitro and in vivo systems with the help of sister laboratories and KGMU.
