Department of Biochemistry

Laboratory of Prof. Chandi C Mandal

Prof. Chandi C. Mandal’s research work aims at understanding molecular mechanisms of dysregulated gene expressions and cellular signaling networks associated with debilitating cancer diseases, by carrying out cell-based experiments, cancer tissue and database analysis. Exploring the impact of various metabolic disorders including diabetes, obesity and hypercholesterolemia, and extrinsic risk factor (cold temperature) on the peculiar trans-differentiation property of epithelial breast cancer cells into osteoblast- and adipocyte-like cells is a major focus. Here, non-toxic drug candidates are preferred to cease the dysregulated signaling pathways via hindering the gene targets. Research work also seeks to examine if cholesterol-lowering statins, omega-3 fatty acids and anti-diabetic metformin can be combined with other anti-cancer drugs to show better efficacy in preventing cancer metastasis, drug resistance and off-target toxicities, especially for breast cancer.

Laboratory of Prof. Sanjib K Panda

Prof. Sanjib K. Panda’s lab works in the area  of Plant Molecular Biology  & Plant Functional Genomics to understand the mechanisms of abiotic stress signal transduction and to develop stress tolerant crop plants. Various  functional genomics platforms are used to dig high-throughput transcriptome and  miRNome data deciphering the gene expression and transcriptional gene regulation. With transgenic and genome editing technology unique critical gene/Tfs/miRNA is functionally validated to understand  stress tolerance in model plant and crop systems.

Laboratory of Dr. Hemant Kumar Daima

The Nanomedicine and Nanotoxicity Research Laboratory, led by Dr. Daima, is at the forefront of advancing functional organic and inorganic nanomaterials. The research is focused on developing cutting-edge technologies for drug and gene delivery, biosensing, cancer therapy, inflammation modulation, combating multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria, nanozyme-based applications, and next-generation medical devices. A key aspect of Daima’s work involves gaining a fundamental understanding of nano–bio interfacial interactions, particularly with an emphasis on regulating nanotoxicity in functionalized nanomaterials. Dr. Daima’s research has highlighted the crucial role of surface functionalization in modulating the exterior corona of nanomaterials, which is an important determinant in their behavior and interactions at biological interfaces. The findings of Daima’s laboratory have provided valuable insights and established guiding principles for the rational design of nanomaterials for biomedical and agricultural applications, paving the way for safer and more effective nanoscale interventions.

Laboratory of Dr. Vishvanath Tiwari

Dr. Vishvanath Tiwari’s lab mainly focuses on pathogenesis, drug resistance, therapeutics development for ESKAPE pathogens (Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae) causes hospital-acquired infections. His current research interest includes i) Antimicrobial and Antibiotic Resistance (Mechanism; Therapeutics), ii) Host-pathogen interaction (Mechanism; Signaling; Autophagy; Immunomodulation), iii) Bacterial Pathogenesis (Biofilm; Persistence; Quorum Sensing), iv) Vaccine Design and Drug Discovery (Chimeric design molecule), v) Nanomedicine and herbal medicine vi) Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) and Antibiotic induced Allergy, vii) Role of unusual DNA, and RNA in bacterial pathogenesis, viii) Protein Engineering and Structural biology (Molecular evolution; Protein folding) 

Laboratory of Dr. Shiv Swaroop

Dr. Shiv Swaroop’s lab is mainly focusing on developing the protein based vaccines and antiviral drugs against some common viruses. Vaccine design work requires extensive protein engineering work that needs thorough understanding of protein structure and stability concepts. Engineered proteins need lot of optimization for their expression in soluble native like structure. Thus, engineered proteins are also stabilized by rational mutagenesis which is important from both the structural and functional point of view. For drug discovery, various computational methods to study protein-protein and protein-drug interactions are utilized. In silico studies will be supplemented with in vitro studies to check the interaction of potential drugs with expressed proteins. Another area of interest of this lab is to isolate industrially and pharmaceutically important enzymes from the hypersaline extremophiles by using recombinant DNA and protein purification techniques.

Laboratory of Dr. Dhaneswar prusty

The effort towards malaria eradication is going to be seriously hampered due to increasing resistance in malaria parasites against all existing drugs and lack of an effective vaccine. Thus our lab is focused on two different areas of malaria biology. The first focus is on the bioinformatics and biochemical analysis of different putative drug targets of the housekeeping functions of apicoplast; a non-photosynthetic plastid like organelle has been proved to be essential for parasite survival. The second research focus is on the exploration of exclusive metabolic pathways of malaria parasite.

Laboratory of Dr. Dipak Gayen

Dr. Dipak Gayen’s lab is focused on the elucidation of organelle proteomics study in response to several environmental stress, which is used extensively for better understanding at the cellular level. Dr. Gayen is currently focussing on (i) protein homeostasis of chloroplast and mitochondria through protease system (ii) chloroplast plastoglobules (PG) (iii) Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) of mitochondria (iv) functional characterization novel candidate genes of chloroplast and mitochondria and (v) phosphoproteomics study. The major target is to identify the regulatory pathways which would provide direction for designing improved crops for sustainable agriculture.

Laboratory of Dr. Bhawana Bissa

Dr. Bhawana Bissa’s lab is focused to understand the role of autophagy in cancer metabolic reprogramming and cellular senescence. The metabolic stress in advanced tumors as well therapy-induced stress can stimulate dependence on autophagy. While there has been lot of studies on cell autonomous functions of autophagy, the non-cell autonomous functions affecting the tumor microenvironment are poorly studied. Dr. Bhawana is primarily focused to understand (i) Role of autophagy in tumor metabolic reprogramming (ii) Non-cell autonomous functions of autophagy (iii) Autophagy and cellular senescence (iv) Lysosomal function in autophagy pathway (v) Apoptosis and Autophagy crosstalk in cancer chemoresisitance