Pune: An international team of scientists claims to have successfully demonstrated how laboratories spread across continents can locally produce key biological components needed for diagnostics and research, after the Covid pandemic showed how the world was vulnerable because it was heavily dependent on a handful of manufacturers and delicate global supply chains for critical medical items.Researchers from IISER Pune, along with Canada, Brazil, Chile and Colombia successfully reproduced the same biomanufacturing process in multiple laboratories using shared DNA sequences, standardised protocols and “cell-free” biological systems. This enabled the invention of a peptide vaccine and point-of-care test. Instead of waiting for imported chemicals, diagnostic kits and research material, labs in different countries could start making some of these locally using shared open protocols. The study was published in Science Advances.The laboratories shared DNA sequences and instructions digitally and through the mail. Instead of using a whole living cell, which was harder to come by, they used “cell-free systems”. It is like using the internal machinery of a cell, making it easier to produce proteins needed for medical tests and vaccines. Using these shared protocols, all the participating labs were able to produce the same high-quality proteins using their own local equipment.Professor Chaitanya Athale of biology department, IISER Pune, and his PhD student, Tanvi Kale, were responsible for taking the DNA sequences and the cell extracts shared by the international group and using them to make proteins in their own lab in India. They didn’t just make the proteins, they studied these carefully to make sure they were exactly right and worked as intended. The international group used this method to create a paper-based test for viruses.Kale said the collaboration helped put together the expertise of each of the groups with what they do best, and design and establish a low-cost diagnostics system which used (most, not all) in-house manufactured reagents. This is especially important because commercial reagents are expensive.“We used cell-free extracts to run this test. Cell-free extracts are essentially materials from lysed cells; they are non-living, but they contain the machinery required to produce proteins. Since standardising these protocols requires significant effort and time, we used this collaboration to leverage the specific expertise of each group. For example, the Chilean team specialised in creating the cell-free extracts, while the Canadian group focused on designing components like the toehold RNA switches. These individual parts of the system were manufactured in separate labs and then sent to collaborators for testing,” said Kale.At IISER Pune, the team used these shared extracts and switches to reproduce and validate the results of the reagents made elsewhere. “This reproducibility is critical because these reagents are highly sensitive to temperature, making transport a constant challenge. Although manufacturing everything ourselves might have been more convenient, this collaborative approach was the most optimal way to establish a reliable system for pandemic preparedness,” Kale said.According to the official note from IISER Pune, the researchers emphasised that it was not meant to replace commercial pure-chemicals and reagents, nor to show how PCR could be improved upon. Instead, it aims to provide one more tool to policymakers and governments during crises, as seen at the time of Covid-19.
