Aryan Bhan

Intern

Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research • Part time

Jun 2025 - Jul 2025 • 1 mo

I completed a 1.5-month student training program (2 June-15 July 2025) in the Department of Virology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, under the Scientific Social Responsibility mandate of the ANRF-DST-funded project “Novel neurovascular organoids to understand the neuropathogenesis of enterovirus." The training provided hands-on experience in serological and molecular virology, including sample receipt and aliquoting, PBMC isolation, manual and automated nucleic acid extraction, conventional PCR with gel electrophoresis, multiplex SARS-CoV-2 qRT-PCR, and EUROIMMUN ELISAs for rubella IgM/IgG, measles IgM and rubella IgG avidity, supported by biosafety training. Maintaining diagnostic reliability was the central challenge. Compromised specimens (leakage, haemolysis, cold-chain breaks, inadequate volume), borderline serological results, contamination risk in nucleic acid workflows, and inadequate plate washing, which can produce false readings, all threaten result validity. These were addressed through defined sample acceptance and rejection criteria with label verification, calibrator- and control-based run validation, repeat testing of borderline samples after seven days, IgG avidity testing to resolve ambiguous IgM findings, pre-chilled plates for master-mix preparation, and Levey-Jennings charts with Westgard rules to monitor assay performance. The training reinforced that result quality depends on pre-analytical handling and quality control as much as on the assay itself and that IgM, IgG, avidity, and PCR findings must be interpreted together with clinical context. The rubella IgM run met its control acceptance criteria, with four of five samples positive and one borderline, and PCR of a measles sample produced a faint amplification band on gel electrophoresis. The work was presented as a team seminar and documented in a formal internship report.