Biotech graduates in the time of Covid-19 – theindependentbd.com

Nobody knows when the Covid-19 pandemic will come into an end. This unprecedented era surely brings a new world order in every aspect of life. Like other countries, Bangladesh is also facing the harsh attack of the coronavirus. From the richer country to the poorest counterpart, the health management system couldnt work smoothly and our country is also not an exception. Despite limited resources, our front-line Covid-19 fighters e.g. doctors, nurses, medical staff, civil administrations, law enforcement personnel, and others are trying to manage the pandemic. We should give our heartfelt gratitude towards these heroes. Besides this, we would like to point out another pool of front-liners who have worked very silently in Covid-19 situation and they are none but biotechnologists.

Test, Trace, Isolate and Support is the public health intervention in entire Covid-19 management throughout the world. The test increased in the last couple of months enormously comparable to the first two months of the onset of the virus in this country, though test frequency towards one million people is still insignificant. Besides this, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) Techniques is one of the most sophisticated molecular biology tools where skilled personnel are a must.

Any limitations in the procedure of the test could result in a false positive or negative outcome, which would be very unfortunate for the suspect cases. Containment level of laboratory Covid-19 test includes following issues like the biosafety level of the laboratory, standard sample collection, sample preparation, and analysis of the results as well as troubleshooting in any stage of the procedures. A graduate of the biotechnology discipline with having a master's degree could easily be a great option to tackle the challenge as PCR is routine work in their lab courses and research.

Profound theoretical knowledge with hands-on training turns biotech personnel into a capable workforce for performing the test and leads the managing of the laboratories soundly. A very recent press release from Bangladesh Association of Biotechnology Graduates (BABG) has represented that more than sixty young biotechnology graduates from different universities are working as a voluntary manner as a corona fighter in different testing laboratories. Some of them are directly incorporated in establishing Covid-19 laboratories while some of them are integrated into performing and troubleshooting the tests. Additionally, a pool of expert young biotech graduates is moving throughout the country to train medical staff as well.

Young biotech graduates have accelerated the pace of work of establishing Covid-19 laboratories in their departments in some public universities i.e. Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, University of Chittagong and performing the Covid-19 test very smoothly while they also put tremendous contribution to the other laboratories of the different universities, medical colleges and so on. It should be pointed out that all of them are working in a completely unpaid manner without health insurance or any other incentive guarantee. Some scientific officers who belong to the biotech community are also come forward to contribute to these pandemic situations.

National Institute of Biotechnology (NIB), Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), and some other institutions reveal the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2, where biotech graduates play a pivotal role in scientific work. Besides this, faculty members of genetic engineering and biotechnology along with young researchers are engaging themselves in research regarding the dynamics of the coronavirus in our country as well as epitope-based vaccine design through in silico approaches. Their research result has been published in a different peer-reviewed journal which also presents the scientific face of Bangladesh. Some others also participated in stay home awareness campaign during this pandemic as well as some others are writing articles for the mass people that could get rid of misinformation.

Though biotech graduates are working from the very beginning of this pandemic, they are not considered as a temporary molecular biologist post in a recent circular which is undoubtedly frustrating. Moreover, genetic engineering and biotechnology graduates are excluded from the list of trained laboratory personnel in a recent press release for the private medical college Covid-19 laboratory containment list. Along with other graduates from life sciences like biochemistry and molecular biology, microbiology, and other subjects, biotechnology graduates are as competent as others.

They have proved their credentials for the last three months. So, biotech graduates should be integrated into the laboratory trained personnel for Covid-19 tests as well as any future appointment in molecular biology or medical biotechnologist post in the recent future. Each year, the country has produced almost eight hundred biotech graduates who could play an essential role in Covid-19 testing as well as management of the pandemic.

BABG has made a volunteer list of biotech graduates who want to put their contribution in Covid-19 testing facilities as other sectors if needed. Besides this, they have made an expert pool of graduates who could be able to train the medical staff and establish biosafety level containment in the laboratories. Covid-19 is a situation that opens all of our eyes to fact that except the combinatorial effect of a multidisciplinary approach, there is no escape. This is not only the issue for the doctors or medical staff but also the trained personnel like biotechnologists, microbiologists and biochemists, and others. An integrated approach could bring a light of hope in coronavirus management in our country.

The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Jagannath University. Email: mmhasansohag@geb.jnu.ac.bd

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Biotech graduates in the time of Covid-19 - theindependentbd.com