| Interests: |
The general focus of my research is “Exploration of Microbial Wealth for Novel Compounds and Biotransformation Processes” which involves the identification of diverse microbial flora using 16S rRNA ribotyping and metagenomics. Isolation of microbes from diverse environmental niches like, Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) (pesticide, pharmaceutical, oil refinery, nitroaromatic sludge), heavy metal waste, contaminated food, soil samples from high altitude, marine coastal water etc) was done. Phylogenetic analysis of unique isolates was done using Shannon diversity index, rarefaction and collector’s curve analysis by DOTUR software’s. I further explored bioinformatic tools which analyze genomes and the metabolic pathway to identify novel potential antibiotic producers. The same approach was used for identification of microbial gut flora of Asian malaria vector Anopheles stephensi in search of potential gut colonizerto block the mode of pathogen transmission. My present area of research is enhancing yield in complex biochemical reactions by application of natural enzymes or by adding synthetic catalysts. There has been an intensive research focus on reactions and processes involved in breakdown of cellulosic biomass. Thus process has been focused on developing cocktails of free enzymes and pre-treated substrates as an alternative to optimize cellulose degradation. |
