LAHORE (Saturday, March 07): Punjab University School of Biological Science (SBS) in joint research with Shiekh Zayed Medical Complex and St. Bartholomew's Hospital London has let to the development of a procedure for sensitive and low-cost immunoassay for the estimate of thryroid autoantibodies. Farkhanda Ghafoor, PMRC Centre, Sheikh Zayed Hospital has been awarded PhD on the basis of development of this assay and its clinical application during pregnancy.

Adaptation of this assay for wide-scale application shall make it possible to diagnose the disease at an early stage and thus prevent development of complications, especially in cases like pregnancy, diabetes and other diseases.

The work shall not only lead to minimize dependence on imported kits and technology, it has also opened new avenues for research and development of sensitive and low-cost diagnostic assay for a wide range of diseases. Use of these assays should be of great value in diagnosing and monitoring treatment of autoimmune diseases in our population at affordable cost.

This work was done under the supervision of SBS Prof M Waheed Akhtar and Dr Raymond Edwards of St. Bartholomew's Hospital London, UK.