Research & Publications
The faculty has a keen interest in taking up funded projects and since its inception , has already availed two grants from SERB-Extra Mural , 1 grant from SERB-Core research grant and 2 grants from SERB-early Research, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India along with 2 grants from Vision Group on Science and Technology, Govt. of Karnataka , totally amounting to Rs. 1 crore 94 lakhs..
Interested students have been encouraged to participate in initial small scale research work in order to train them to handle large projects.
Funded Projects, Research Awards & Publications:
Funded Projects
Ms Manjushree HK has been awarded the DST-INSPIRE fellowship to work on the project “utilization of collagen cryptic peptides to fabricate bioactive bandage and ointment for 2nd and 3rd degree burn wound healing” with an approximate amount of Rs. 24 lakhs. The project supervisor is Dr Pradipta Banerjee.
Even though extensive burns primarily involve skin, almost all systems of the body are affected making it a generalized disorder. Second and third degree burn wound leads to complication which makes management of the bum wound a challenging task. These burns may cause compression of blood vessels leading to distal vascularity. Bacterial infiltration in deep tissues may lead to sepsis. Large amount of wound healing ointments used causes the agents to be absorbed from the skin into the circulation and lead to unwanted side effects. Since the phases are not synced and severe burns destroyed the existing melanocyte, often hypopigmentation is seen in deep burns.
A major problem is the unavailability of modern bioactive bandages and ointments to an overwhelming part of the population of India. Because of this, majority of second- and third-degree burns are left to heal on their own. However, this prolongs the resolution phase forcing the wound to heal slowly. Thus, it causes hypertrophic scarring and unusual distortions of skin.
Current Treatments available for burn wounds are in the form of bandages and ointments which are produced in other countries and have to be imported, making price and availability to the general populace a problem.
Their solution is to identify wound healing cryptic peptides from marine collagen and fabricate collagen peptide-based bio active bandages and ointments to treat secondary and full thickness burn wounds. Cryptic peptides from collagen are immunogenic, specific and can be easily isolable from protein-rich sources. Their goal is to ensure that such bandages/ ointments are made in a lower cost so that it is easily affordable to the entire population of India.
Dr. Santosh Choudhari has been awarded Core Research Grant of approximately Rs. 40 lakhs by DST-SERB for the project, Separation of Biobutanol via Scalable Approach of Pervaporation: To be a “Viable Biofuel for Future”.
The fundamental objective of the project is to develop efficient recovery technique for biobutanol so that biobutanol could be a viable biofuel for future.
Nowadays biofuels production from biomass has attracted lot of attention, due to the need for reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and limited global availability, increasing demand and costs of fossil fuels. The issue is more relevant in Indian contest as India is world’s third largest crude oil importer and fourth largest GHG emitter. Being one of the world’s fasted growing economies, Indian energy security and economy will remain vulnerable unless alternative fuels based on indigenously produced renewable feedstock are developed to substitute or supplement petro-based fuels. Butanol or biobutanol (BuOH) as a biofuel has several advantages over methanol, ethanol and biodiesel such as higher energy content, potential for higher blending percentage with gasoline, lower vapor pressure, and lower hygroscopy. BuOH can be produced by fermentation of carbohydrates derived from biomass using Clostridium acetobutylicum or C. beijerinckii under anaerobic conditions which is well known as ABE (Acetone-Ethanol-Butanol) fermentation process. The major problem associated with ABE fermentation is severe product (especially BuOH) inhibition during bioprocessing, which leads to low BuOH yield and productivity, and very low final product concentration (3 wt%), causing expensive downstream processing (product separation) costs. One way of solving this problem is to develop an efficient and cost effective separation process. Among the several techniques for the BuOH recovery pervaporation (PV) a membrane based separation technique stands out as highly energy efficient and ecofriendly technique and can be integrated with fermentor to form bioreactor for continuous removal of BuOH which can alleviate product toxicity effect. Therefore, this project is mainly focused on the development of novel PV membranes based on several new ideas and emerging concepts in the material science and interdisciplinary fields for the efficient recovery of BuOH from ABE solutions, test membrane efficiencies, physical & chemical properties of the membranes and to develop new theories related to membrane transportation.
Dr Shobha K. Jayanna, Assistant professor, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Dayananda Sagar University, has been awarded funding under the VGST scheme of K FIST Level (1) for the financial year 2016-2017 project titled “Immobilized microbial consortium for pesticide bioremediation in Ginger cultivated soils of Karnataka” by the Government based on the recommendations of Vision Group on Science and Technology under the Chairmanship of Prof. CNR Rao, Honorary President, JNCASR. The total project grant award is Rs. 20.00 lakhs.
A vast majority of the population in India is engaged in agriculture and is therefore exposed to the pesticides used in Agriculture. Ginger cultivation uses huge amounts of melathion, menkozeb, metalaxyl, quinaphos, 2,4 dichlorophenoxy acetic acid and capten, which has had disastrous effect on the people. Huge and variety of pesticides used in ginger cultivation are posing great threat to soil, running and stagnant water bodies. Most of these chemicals residues end up in local water bodies causing unseen pollution and direct poisoning of all life forms in water, which may leads to bioaccumulation and biomagnifications. Hence in this present research work, potential pesticide degrading organisms or enzymes immobilized will be used in the bioremediation of pesticides in contaminated agricultural field.
The KSCST has sanctioned two student grants to students working with the guidance of Dr. Gautham S. A. and Dr. Anu Sharma regarding the applications of microorganisms from different sources for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuel. The total money awarded is Rs. 19,000.00. The students working with Dr. Gautham under this scheme are: Anikat Pokale, Sharvari Indulkar and Nidhi Gada. The students working with Dr. Anu Sharma under this scheme are: Rachita Kaur Arora, Priyanka Kumari and Sunita Kumari.
Dr. Pradipta Banerjee has been awarded a DST-SERB project of approximately Rs. 35 lakhs for the project “Isolation of matricryptic peptides from marine industry waste involved in nanocrystal hydroxyapatite formation and fabrication of a peptide based osseointegrative implant coating”
Clinical problems of bone defects are encountered in diverse disciplines, including orthopedics, dentistry and maxillofacial surgery. The need of the hour is to repair osseous deficiencies through osseointegration – using a coating or grafting material that allow osteoblast differentiation, is biocompatible enough to be absorbed by the body and replacable with new bone. Commonly used bone augmentation techniques used to repair osseous deficiencies suffer from their unique disadvantages; autograft harvesting can result in donor site morbidity while allograft and xenograft tissue is limited by donor availability along with an increased risk of immunogenic response, disease transmission and infection. The alternatives are synthetic ceramics, which suffer from a major disadvantage: bio-inertness. A comparatively in-expensive and promising technique for osseointegration and implant acceptance is the bio-mimetic approach, which mimics the in vivo synthesis of bone through in vitro mineralization of the extracellular protein, collagen.
This project has two objectives; the first one includes isolating collagen from marine industry waste, fragmentation and screening of the hydrolysates for bio-mimetic mineralization properties. The second objective involves testing the nanocoposite of cryptic peptide/HA for its osteoblast supporting abilities and implant acceptance rates via mammalian cell cultures and in vivo using mice model.
The DST- SERB has sanctioned an Extramural Research Grant Project of approximately Rs. 40 lakhs to the Department of Biological Sciences for the project ‘Investigations on intestinal neuropeptides as anticolitogenic agents on mitochondrial function for the maintenance of colon epithelial tract in ulcerative colitis’. The Principal Investigator of the project is Dr. Arpan Kumar Maiti, Assistant Professor, School of Basic & Applied Sciences, Dayananda Sagar University. The Co-Investigators of the project are Dr. Sunil. S. More, Associate Professor & Dean, School of Basic & Applied Science, and Dr. Gautham. S.A., Assistant Professor, School of Basic & Applied Science, Dayananda Sagar University.
The proposed project being novel involving intestinal neuropeptides in UC treatment holds significance in the current status, as India is considered as the UC capital of South Asia. The treatment methods available being partially effective has resulted in increased colectomy, thus the search for good anti-colitogenic agents has become essential. In pretext of the present scenario this proposal holds merit considering its implication in the field of UC that will lead to
- Opening up of new avenues for UC treatment by using intestinal neuropeptides as anti-colitogenic agents by attenuating mitochondrial dysfunction in affected colon epithelial cells for the maintenance of colon epithelial tract.
- Setting up mitochondrial structure and function as a novel target for the treatment of UC and encouraging mitochondria specific anti-oxidants for the treatment of the same.
- Elucidating the correlation that exists between changes in tissue level concentration of intestinal neuropeptides to mitochondrial function for the maintenance of colon epithelial tract in human UC.
Generally neuropeptides released at the nerve endings in the colon side, diffuse into surrounding tissues and bind to their corresponding receptors regulating peristalsis, fluid secretion and digestive processes. In non-UC conditions few intestinal neuropeptides (like VIP and SP) have been known to be non-apoptotic and help in maintaining mitochondrial function. However the impact of the changes in tissue concentration levels of intestinal neuropeptides on the mitochondrial dysfunction in the affected colon epithelial cells in UC remains unknown and un-investigated. Thus this research proposal holds importance as it is focussed on addressing the above stated lacunae and at the same time aims to investigate intestinal neuropeptides as potential anti-colitogenic agents.
The DST- SERB has sanctioned an Extramural Research Grant of Rs. 28, 54,400 for the project “Purification and preparation of nano cocktail of active principles of folk medicinal plants as first-aid formulation for snake bite victims” for the year 2016-2019. The principal investigator of the project is Dr. Sunil. S. More, Associate Professor & Dean, School of Basic & Applied Science, Dayananda Sagar University and the Co- Investigator is Dr. Gautham. S.A., Assistant.
Snake bite is an occupational hazard in tropical and sub-tropical countries like India. It is estimated that 2.5 million people are envenomed each year on a global basis and approximately 50,000 deaths have been reported in India per annum. Higher death rates in India are due to the four poisonous snake’s namely Indian cobra, Saw scaled viper, Russell’s viper and common Krait. Antivenom immunotherapy is the specific treatment available against snake bite but is associated with various side effects like pyrogen reactions; serum sickness along with that supply of antivenom has logistical, marketing, storage and economic difficulties. Hence it is important to derive an alternative treatment that involves the usage of different venom inhibitor, synthetic or natural, that could be a substitute for the action of antivenins. Over the years attempts have been made to develop snake venom antagonists especially from medicinal plants.
The project is planned to decipher the therapeutic potential of folk medicinal plants against snake bites by the enzyme inhibition studies of Acetylcholinesterase, Hyaluronidase, Phospholipase A2, Protease, L- amino acid oxidase, 5’ Nucleotidase, Phosphomonoesterase and Phosphodiesterase activity. The pharmacological activities planned are neutralization of fibrinogenolytic activity, neutralization of coagulant activity, indirect haemolytic assay and in-vitro human red blood corpuscles (HRBC) lysis. Ex vivo studies shell-less egg preparation, acute toxicity of root extract, Lethal toxicity determination and its neutralization, hemorrhagic activity and its neutralization, in vivo neutralization of lethal toxicity, edema inducing activity, hemorrhagic activity, myotoxicity and acute oral toxicity will be assessed.
In view of the limitations of conventional anti-venom in the treatment of snakebite poisoning, the need to search for better, effective, accessible and affordable remedies with no adverse effects from indigenous plants underlines this project.
The Vision Group on Science and Technology (VGST), Department of IT, BT and S&T has sanctioned a grant of Rs. 30 lakhs to the Department of Biochemistry, for the project “Isolation of therapeutic cryptic peptides involved in blood pressure regulation from marine industry waste”. The principal investigator of the project is Dr. Pradipta Banerjee and the project is under the CISEE scheme where the grantee institution is permitted to set up a Center for Innovative Science and Research (Kindly see The CISAR Lab).
A sustained increase in blood pressure is termed as hypertension and it is a controllable risk factor in the development of a number of cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, arteriosclerosis, myocardial infarction and end-stage renal diseases. Synthetic drugs, used mainly to stop the rennin-angiotensin pathway involved in regulating blood pressure, are effective but cause major side effects. Adding to this problem is the high cost of developing a new prescription drug (0.8 to 5 billion US$) and a large percentage of the drugs produced are finally rejected in toxicity tests and in various phases of the clinical trials. There is only a 10% chance that a potent, safe drug will cross all the hurdles and reach the market. A more effective solution lies in using therapeutic peptides isolated from waste materials as hypotensive agents. Peptides are compatible, non-toxic, and specific with low bioaccumulation and no drug-drug interaction and are ideally suited for in vivo application.
The KSCST has sanctioned two student grants to Mr. Shreyas, working under Dr. Gautham S. A. and to Mr. Tanmay & Mr. Amrit, working with Dr. Anand Prakash regarding conversion of sugar-rich waste to biofuel.
Research Awards
PUBLICATIONS
Faculty Publication details:
# Faculty Designation Publication Link 1 Dr. Sunil S. More Dean, SBAS, Professor of Biochemistry Click to See More.. 2 Dr. Aneesa Fasim Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Click to See More.. 3 Dr. Farhan Zameer Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Click to See More.. 4 Dr. Pradipta Banerjee Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Click to See More.. 5 Dr. Santosh Choudhari Assistant Professor of Chemistry Click to See More.. 6 Dr. Shilpa B. M. Assistant Professor of Microbiology Click to See More.. 7 Dr. Shobha K. Jayanna Assistant Professor of Microbiology Click to See More.. 8 Dr. Smeeta Shrestha Assistant Professor of Genetics Click to See More.. 9 Dr. Susweta Das Assistant Professor of Biotechnology Click to See More.. 10 Dr. Roshan Pais Assistant Professor Click to See More.. 11 Dr. Ajay Nair Assistant Professor Click to See More.. 12 Dr. Ganapati Bhat Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Click to See More.. 13 Dr. Sinjitha S. Nambiar Assistant Professor of Biotechnology Click to See More.. 14 Dr. Archana S. Rao Assistant Professor of Microbiology Click to See More.. CISAR Lab : Center for Innovative Science and Advanced Research
Research Lab One
Research Domain
Research Policies
Research Policies
School of basic and applied sciences promotes research culture among students, research scholars and faculty members of the school by providing necessary support in terms of research guidance, infrastructure, time, mental support, publication review, mentoring and research work review. To fulfill the above said motive the following research policies for the department have been framed and approved by the department for their effective implementation.
- Faculty research supervisors will be allocated to both under graduate and post graduate students according to the expertise and area of research.
- Both under graduate and post graduate students are encouraged to present their research work in a conference conducted at National or International level.
- Both under graduate and post graduate students are expected to publish their research work in a indexed journal of National or International level.
- Faculty members who pursue PhD in Dayananda Sagar University or any other recognized university will be supported to attend their Doctoral Committee Meeting or to attend course work classes by making necessary adjustments in their work load for the time required.
- Faculty members are allowed to make use of research lab, instrumentation lab, library resources and other facilities for their research work.
- Recommendation for incentives for conference presentation and publications by faculty members of the department will be made according to regulations of the University.
- Provision of research seed grant, with a ceiling of Rs. 5 lakhs per proposal thereby encouraging researchers to start off with their initial research.
- Encouragement given to researchers in the Departments to send their research proposals to external funding agencies and industries and pass on an equivalent of 8% of the sanctioned amount as incentive to Principal Investigators.
- Financial support for travel for attending conferences and organizing conferences.
- Faculty members are expected to undertake research, leading to quality publications, presentations in National/International conferences of repute, generation of Intellectual property with potential for commercialization, socially useful outcome and other similar research activity.
- The core objective is to establish a vibrant research culture among the faculty community with an interdisciplinary perspective in order to respond to the emerging challenges faced by the society at regional, national and global levels.
- Policies approved by the University for promoting research are:
- SEED MONEY GRANT POLICY
- DSU CONSULTANCY POLICY
- GUIDLINES FOR MANAGEMENT OF RESEARCH PROJECTS
