Merck funds Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay for Covid-19 research

News Release

Mumbai, India, Aug 26, 2021 – Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced a donation of INR 1.7crore (194,000€) over two years to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay to support the development of clinical tests for Covid-19 disease severity assessment. The funded project is an ongoing Covid-19 multi-omics research on the development of simple immunoassays based on Single Molecule Counting technology to identify low-levels of early disease severity markers.

“India has been hit by a huge second coronavirus wave with a record of over 32 million cases to-date, and daily active cases in tens of thousands,” said Sunil Punjabi, Managing Director of Life Science Business, Merck India. “With this donation, Merck is aiding IIT in the early identification of Covid-19 virus severity to facilitate appropriate healthcare management which will help to relieve the pressure that has been put on the healthcare system in the country.”

The research aims to dissect the host response signatures during Covid-19 disease progression, identify clinically relevant biomarkers, apply mass spectrometry-based approaches, and translate the findings to allow the prognosis of Covid-19 patients.

The partnership will focus on five areas, including:

• Biomarker discovery of Covid-19 severity at an early phase of infection
• Immunoassays for the detection of biomarkers using Single Molecule Counting technology
• AI-driven short-listing of Covid-19 biomarkers for prognosis using immunoassay panel
• Immunoassay panel development for detection of biomarkers using Single Molecule Counting Technology
• Pathway enrichment driven computational studies on drug repurposing for Covid-19 therapies

”Further clinical validation remains a challenge since highly advanced mass-spectrometry instruments are cumbersome to operate in clinical settings,” said Professor Subhasis Chaudhuri, Director, IIT Bombay. “Validation using immunoassay platforms like single molecule counting (SMC) technology will be highly beneficial for rapid clinical translation. Our partnership with Merck is a natural next step in this direction and we are grateful to them for supporting our mission.”

The research project is expected to commence Mass Spec based validation of Covid-19 biomarkers and the set-up of Single Molecule Counting technology and protocols optimization, which will be used as the foundation for future Covid-19 clinical tests and drug re-purposing studies as part of this donation project.

About IIT Bombay

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, the second IIT to be set up in 1958, is recognized worldwide as a leader in the field of engineering education and research. The Institute was granted the status of ‘Institution of Eminence’ by the Ministry of Education on July 9, 2018. IIT Bombay is reputed for the quality of its faculty and the outstanding caliber of students graduating from its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The Institute has 15 academic departments, 32 centres, two schools and four Interdisciplinary programmes. Over the last six decades, more than 62,500 engineers and scientists have graduated from the Institute. It is served by more than 692 faculty members considered not only amongst the best within the country, but are also highly recognized in the world for achievements in the field of education and research. The Institute is recognized as one of the top centres of academic excellence in the country. Over the years, there has been dynamic and rapid progress at IIT Bombay in both academic and research activities, with a parallel improvement in facilities and infrastructure to match with the best institutions in the world.