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The School now has four
funded projects, 3 from DST (major) and one from UGC
(minor).
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Studies on
anti-quorum-sensing and immunomodulatory properties
of Euphorbia spp. extracts.
Dr. Nandita Nashikkar, DST
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A comparative study of
bioactivities of in vitro produced saponins with
natural saponins from Asparagus racemosus.
Mrs. P. Mashitha, DST
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Arbuscular mycorrhizal
fungal biotechnology for improvement of Withania
somnifera with respect to its alkaloid content.
Dr. Nilima Ratti, DST
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In vitro study of
quorum-sensing and immunomodulatory activity of
subtilisin and nisin.
Mr. Deovrat Begde, UGC
RESEARCH PROGRAMME
The school offers a
doctoral research programme leading to Ph.D. degree in
Biochemistry/Biotechnology
RESEARCH RECOGNITION TO OUR LABORATORIES ACCORDED BY THE RTM
NAGPUR UNIVERSITY
Research with us is the
key to education. Therefore, most of the major
projects that are currently in progress started as
small projects given to M. Sc. or B.Sc. students.
These same projects have now blossomed into stories
that are shaping up rather well. Involving students
allows us to make them think originally, give them a
training into how research is actually done while at
the same time furthering our own research goals.
To give added thrust to research, we have developed
laboratories specifically devoted to research – no
component of coursework gets done in these
laboratories. We now have laboratories that can do
very good work in plant tissue culture and plant
transformation, microbiological work and work with
infectious diseases, and animal tissue culture and
related aspects.
To give added thrust to research, we have developed
laboratories specifically devoted to research – no
component of coursework gets done in these
laboratories. We now have laboratories that can do
very good work in plant tissue culture and plant
transformation, microbiological work and work with
infectious diseases, and animal tissue culture and
related aspects.
Given below are the main themes of
research that involve us currently.
Throw your DNA out to control infection…
You think DNA has only a genetic function and does nothing
else? Well, that is what we thought till now. But recent research in
several laboratories suggests that it can also have a structural
role. When a white blood cell wants to kill the infection, it often
extrudes its chromatin including the DNA in order to construct what
is called the Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs). They do so at
the expense of their own life, as formation of NETs is one of the
preliminary events of neutrophil suicide. Thus by doing so it
ensures that those bacteria which are not phagocytosed are killed
extracellularly.
Therefore, any substance that could induce NET formation can be of
immense therapeutic potential. In our laboratory, one of the
bacteria’s own extracellular antimicrobial peptide has been shown to
have this remarkable ability in vitro.
Compounds that stop
infection may not necessarily kill bacteria…
When you consume chemicals to kill bacteria, they develop
resistance. After all they have to live too! So can there not be a
way of controlling them and warding off infection without killing
them? This is the question we are asking and this is the subject on
which Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, has
given Dr. Nandita Nashikkar a Major Project funding.
Even pathogenic bacteria do not cause a disease until they sense
that they are present in a good number (quorum-sensing). Once they
sense that the quorum is high enough, they move (swarming). Swarming
genes are critically linked to pathogenic genes. Thus if you can
interfere with quorum-sensing or inhibit swarming, you can stop
disease.
In the last one year we have been able to prove that there indeed
are some plant extracts that stop bacterial swarming. We are today
involved in purifying the active compounds from these extracts.
Producing pure ayurvedic
compounds in a flask…
We established the root callus of Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus)
in our tissue culture laboratory (we are the first one in the
world to have done so, other attempts failed for years). We then
made the callus friable and these cells now grow in suspension and
produce pure saponins. No need to grow the plants. All you need is a
small room, a few cheap equipments and you can manufacture the
medicinal compounds. Bonus? You get pure, high value added saponins,
rather than crude root powder. Neat, isn’t it?
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