IISc incubated startup ShanMukha to increase mobile Covid testing labs

ShanMukha Innovations, a startup incubated at the Society for Innovation and Development (SID) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is looking at further increasing the number of Mobile Infection Testing and Reporting (MITR) labs for Covid testing across India.

The Bengaluru based startup has so far deployed 12 labs in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and has tested 150,000 people over the last few months.

“Mobile labs play a crucial role by reaching remote locations and enabling a reduction in turnaround time. We are in talks with various stakeholders to further scale-up mobile lab facilities,” ShanMukha Innovations director Arun B said.


The startup is also interacting with multiple state governments and private labs to deploy MITR labs and prepare for the possible future Covid waves.

ShanMukha has delivered its customised MITR Labs to Tata Medical and Diagnostics to suit their test process. Two of its labs were also deployed in Uttarakhand with operational partners to support the state government’s testing efforts during Kumbh Mela in April, the startup said in a press release.

The office of the principal scientific advisor and corporate donors funded the first set of MITR Labs. The first three mobile labs were given to Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute in August last year and the fourth deployment was at AIIMS, Delhi.

ShanMukha received Bio Awards 2020 from the Karnataka government.