Context
The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), a Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) lab, played a crucial role in the development of Covaxin, the indigenous vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited.
The project
- The vaccine ‘Covaxin’, is formulated with Algel-IMDG, which contains chemisorbed TLR7/8 agonist onto aluminium hydroxide gel to generate the requisite type of immune responses.
- Owing to the significant role played by TLR7/8 agonist molecule in the performance of a vaccine, CSIR constituent lab, IICT based in Hyderabad, was approached by Bharat Biotech to develop the synthetic route for the agonist molecule with indigenous chemicals at an affordable price and with highest purity.
- This agonist molecule has aided in scaling up the production of the adjuvant, the statement added.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
- A society registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860 under Ministry of Science and Technology.
- History: The Central Legislative Assembly in 1941 recommended to the Governor-General in Council that a fund called the Industrial Research Fund be constituted, for the purpose of fostering industrial development in this country, and hence to implement the resolution CSIR was setup in
Important achievements of CSIR
- Developed India's first synthetic drug, methaqualone in 1950.
- Developed Optical Glass for defence purposes.
- First to analyse genetic diversity of the indigenous Andamanese tribes and to establish their origin out of Africa 60,000 years ago.
- Developed the first transgenicDrosophila model for drug screening for cancer in humans.
- Designed India's first ever parallel processing computer, Flosolver.
- Established first ever in the world 'Traditional Knowledge Digital Library' accessible in five international languages, English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish.
- In 2009, completed the sequencing of the Human Genome.
- In 2020, initiated clinical trials to evaluate Sepsivac's efficacy to reduce mortality rate in COVID-19
