Researchers at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in Thiruvananthapuram have developed a novel, cost-effective real-time LAMP (rt-LAMP) assay for the early diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). 

• The test is designed to provide accurate results more quickly and affordably compared to existing methods like GeneXpert and RT-PCR.

About rt-LAMP

• It is a molecular test that offers high sensitivity and specificity (89.36% sensitivity and 94.06% specificity) for detecting TB, capable of identifying TB DNA even when only 10 copies are present per microliter.
  

Key Features

• Uses a fluorescent dye (Syto 16), which eliminates the issue of false negatives caused by dyes in previous LAMP tests.
• Unlike RT-PCR, which requires three different temperatures, the rt-LAMP test works at a single temperature, speeding up the testing process.
• The test can produce results in 10-20 minutes due to its high amplification rate, with six primers used for amplification compared to the two in RT-PCR.
• Affordability: The use of inexpensive dyes and primers makes the rt-LAMP test highly cost-effective.
• High Throughput: It can process 96-384 tests in a single run, making it suitable for large-scale testing.
• Regulatory Approvals: The rt-LAMP technology has received approval from CDSCO and is under validation by ICMR, with evaluation by the WHO Health Technology Access Pool program.