Laboratory Medicine and Molecular diagnostic (LMMD), established as an ICMR Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) Grade 1 laboratory in 2011 at RGCB, is one among the 6 Grade 1 laboratory in India handling more than 220 infectious and non-infectious disease diagnostics. LMMD is the only lab in India under the Dept of Science and Technology, Govt of India with NABL ISO 15189-2012, NABH, and ILAC accreditations since 2016. By adhering to the stringent standards of the accreditation agencies, the reports generated by LMMD are honoured worldwide. LMMD has been at the forefront of pandemic surveillance, which has been proven time and again during different disease outbreaks, including SARS CoV-2, Dengue, H1N1, etc. The team comprises of highly trained professionals, who are also auditors for accreditation agencies, working round the clock, year in year out during these testing times. LMMD offers over 69 different viral disease tests, all bacterial infection testing inclusive of genetic analysis for antibiotic resistance, early prediction of lifestyle diseases, disease progression, and survival analysis using sequencing in diseases like cancer & cardiovascular diseases, and pharmacogenomic analysis for personalized medical care.

LMMD utilizes state-of-the-art in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) certified machines and reagents for all diagnostic parameters. The IVD certified machine ranges from stand-alone qPCR systems to fully automated high-throughput PCR workstations. The Department, in addition, utilizes next-generation sequencing (NGS) combined with top-of-the-line analysis pipelines and dedicated servers to perform genetic variant detection in pathogens and human diseases alike. The NGS facility is backed by a dedicated, professionally trained bio-informatics team.

This Department is a compulsory MCI recognized molecular diagnostics rotation Centre for various medical post-graduates. LMMD is recognized by ICMR, DBT, CDSCO, and DCGI as authorized testing centre for testing and reporting on the efficacy of newly developed test kits and devices designed to neutralize/eliminate pathogens including COVID-19 virus. LMMD is a participating centre with WHO’s antibiotic resistance surveillance group. LMMD is an active member and contributor in Indian SARS-Covid-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), where the different variants of COVID-19 virus is sequenced and analysed for variant detection and reporting.

LMMD, through its efforts in translational research, has developed, prototyped, and bought to the market different technologies in the detection of transmissible diseases along with detection kits for snake envenomation, most of which are developed for the first time in the world. LMMD has got research and development partnerships with various governmental and private establishments alike both in India and abroad.