IIT Alumni Council signs Agreement with CSIR-IGIB

On 8^th July 2020, an agreement has been signed between the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) and IIT Alumni Council.

About the Agreement

• As per the Agreement Signed, joint research work on COVID-19 will be conducted and data of COVID-19 positive patients will also be analyzed jointly by the CSIR-IGIB and the IIT Alumni Council.
• Along with the statement for the signing of the agreement, it was also informed that Imaging data of over 8500 COVID-19 patients have been handed over to CSIR-IGIB by the IIT Alumni Council. 
• The imaging data of 8500 patients are from the temporary COVID Care Facility at the National Sports Club of India Dome (NSCI Dome) at Southern Mumbai’s Worli. 
• The imaging data will be provided in the de-identified form by the CSIR-IGIB.

First Line of MegaLab Mumbai by the End of July

• On 29^th May 2020, the IIT Alumni Council had announced that it will set up one of the largest COVID-19 testing facility of the world in Mumbai. 
• The name of the facility will be MegaLab Mumbai. Mumbai University was announced as a partner for the MegaLab Mumbai initiative.
• The MegaLab Mumbai will have three independent lines. First-line with a capacity of 1 million (10 lakh) tests per month), Second with 3 Million Tests per month, and the Third line with 6 Million Tests per Month. In combination, all three independent lines will have a total capacity of 1 crore (10 million) tests per month.
• The First Line of the MegaLab Mumbai is expected to be ready by the end of July 2020, which will have the capacity to test 10 million samples per month.
• MegaLab Mumbai is part of the C19 initiative. C19 initiative was launched by IIT Alumni Council in February 2020.