CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow, licensed Technology of Nucleic Acid Staining Dye GreenR™ to GenetoProtein Pvt. Ltd for life sciences research with trade name "GreenR™". GenetoProtein Pvt. Ltd. (GTP), a start-up company registered in Uttar Pradesh in the year 2020 is involved in developing an array of enzymes, kits and biochemical used in Lifesciences research, particularly in molecular biology. The dye GreenR™ has been developed by CDRI Senior Principal Scientist Dr Atul Goel in a joint collaborative project with an industry partner Biotech Desk Pvt. Ltd, Hyderabad.

The director CSIR-CDRI Dr Tapas Kumar Kundu said, “The nucleic acid staining dye segment seems to be dominated by costly imported products of multinational companies and this make-in-India product is cost-effective and it will reduce our dependency on foreign supplies. He further mentioned that CSIR-CDRI is committed to nurture the development of pharma cluster and start-up culture in Uttar Pradesh and this is another step in this direction.”

While talking about the technology, Dr Atul Goel informed that the product GreenR™ may be used to stain DNA and RNA for research and diagnostics to detect and quantify them. It binds to nucleic acids like genomic DNA, PCR products, plasmids and RNA under blue light or UV exposure. 

Dr Shradha Goenka, Director of GenetoProtein Pvt. Ltd commented that the efficacy and toxicity of GreenR™ have been tested and various applications for this dye are now being studied. We have been dependent upon stains like Ethidium bromide which intercalates between the DNA strands and is a known mutagen to bacteria, animals and humans. Hence its usage is risky for the user and its disposal needs special treatment as well. To overcome these issues of toxicity, some foreign companies have invented safe DNA dyes such as Sybr Safe™ by ThermoFisher.     However, these dyes have substantial costs as they are expensive to import. 

The development of a new safe dye which the team has named “GreenR™” will help researchers in the field of Lifesciences and DNA-based diagnostics to bring down their cost substantially. This would enhance the product portfolio of the company and help Indian research go one step closer to Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The product also has applications in molecular diagnostics and would help in PCR based testing of diseases.