Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurates DRDO mobile testing lab

News: Union Defence Minister inaugurated a Mobile Viral Research Lab (MVRL)

Facts:

• Developed by: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
• It is the combination of a BSL 3 lab and a BSL 2 lab built as per WHO and ICMR Bio-safety standards
• Significance:
  • Can be positioned anywhere in the country as per requirements
  • Can carry out diagnosis of COVID-19 
  • Can carry out virus culturing for drug screening, 
  • Carry out Convalescent plasma derived therapy, comprehensive immune profiling of COVID-19 patients 

Additional Facts:

Biosafety Level (BSL)

• It is a set of biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in a laboratory. There are four biosafety levels
  • BSL–1: It applies to laboratory settings in which personnel work with low-risk microbes. Eg. E. coli
  • BSL-2: It applies to laboratories that work with pathogenic or infectious organisms that pose a moderate health hazard. E.g. HIV
  • BSL-3: It applies to laboratories which work on microbes that are either indigenous or exotic, and can cause serious or potentially lethal disease through inhalation. E.g. West Nile fever, tuberculosis etc.
  • BSL-4: It applies to laboratories which work with highly dangerous and exotic microbes. E.g. Ebola.