In its fourth week now, C-CAMPs Covid Innovation Deployment Accelerator (C-CIDA) continues to select top startups across India innovating to fight the coronavirus pandemic. It has managed to select and showcase 30 startups in 30 days that are solving gaps and needs across screening, monitoring, and diagnostics.

Several of these are usingstem cell research. One of them is Bengaluru-based cell therapy startup Eyestem. Founded by Jogin Desai, Rajani Battu, and Dhruv Sareen, the startup aims to develop scalable cell replacement therapies for the world.

Hence, Eyestem believes that the easiest way forward is to repurpose existing drugs and has built an Anti-Covid screening (ACS) platform, which aims to provide the research community with a resource to determine the efficacy of a drug or a vaccine using the closest human host cell population.

Led by Rajarshi Pal, Chief Scientist of Eyestem, the startup had been working on lung cells for a couple of years now, publishing papers on the same. However, in the last three months, it pivoted to build this platform specifically to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, it is ready to partner with other labs and companies to grow SARS-CoV-2 virus in these lung cells and start testing these drugs.

He claims that the startup has already collaborated with two players, and is also expecting to start working with facilities in the US soon.

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This startup aims to treat coronavirus using stem cell research - YourStory