UGC-SAP
The Department has two broad areas of research: Industrial, Food and Environmental Microbiology and Molecular Biology of Microbial Pathogens.
In the broad area of Industrial, Food and Environmental Microbiology, the specific research interests of the department have been in the areas of production of industrially important microbial enzymes, biofuels, bioactive compounds and carbohydrates, meta-genomics, structure function analysis and molecular modification of enzymes, lignocellulose biodegradation, ethanol production from lignocellulose, molecular biology of lignin degradation, carbon sequestration using heterotrophs, bioremediation,gene expression and bioprocess engineering.
In the broad area of Molecular biology of microbial pathogens, the specific areas of research interest include molecular epidemiology of emerging water-borne pathogens like Yersinia enterocolitica and E.coli, and mechanism of antibiotic resistance with special focus on β-lactamase;understanding host pathogen interactions; microbial genomics and proteomics. The research interests also include investigations into DNA replication and chromatin modifications in the protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani (the causative agent of kala-azar) and understanding molecular pathogenesis of viral infections associated with cancer using Epstein Barr virus and Hepatitis C virus as models to investigate viral causes of cancers.
Under these two themes, the Department was funded to the tune of Rs.65 lakhs under the UGC SAP (DRS-I) scheme from 2012-17. As part of this program, the Department acquired an Ultra-centrifuge for the purification of virus particles. Two symposium were held under this program, in 2013 and 2017 respectively.
The details regarding SAP proposal, annual and consolidated progress reports can be downloaded from links below: