In a milestone achievement, the King George’s Medical University in Lucknow on Tuesday became the first and the only institute across India to have conducted 20 lakh COVID tests, since February 2020. The KGMU spokesperson informed that the university has aced this tally with the relentless assistance of the staff, lab technicians, scientists and even research students, who worked round the clock, despite having tested positive. All tests were conducted through the RT-PCR method, the golden standard of testing.
ICMR permits advanced Mycology Centre at KGMU
In view of the pathological potential of the Medical University, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday granted permission to set up an advanced mycology diagnostic and research centre here. As per reports, the head of the Microbiology lab here, Professor Amita Jain has been relayed the benefaction.
The new dimension of the microbiology department will be the primary research centre related to fungi, especially around mucormycosis or black fungus- an offshoot of COVID-19.
“The mycology lab was already there but it was lacking in advanced technology. Now with it being an ICMR approved full-fledged centre, technology and machinery will be upgraded which will help us study the different aspects of fungi and diseases caused by it such as mucormycosis. The time taken to decipher the mechanism of the fungi and research for drugs to be used, will also be quicker than before,” said Professor Amita Jain.
