SIBBRD Research Activities

The biotechnology research institution, started in the year 2007, is a major initiative of SCMS Group in a frontier area of science recognized by DSIR, Government of India. It has obtained six national and three international patents and published more than 50 research based articles in refereed journals of global reputation and acceptance. The institute has transferred three technologies to industry already at national level.

The main technologies developed are RT-PCR method for early detection of CHIK virus, purification protocol of natural sweetener Stevioside from Stevia leaves, Harvesting and processing technology of coconut Neera, rapid molecular detection of Chik virus by direct & indirect ELISA using recombinant antigen. For the first time, the research team of SIBBR&D has characterized the lactoferrin gene of vechur cow (NCBI gene accession No. GU059864; JF926526, JF926527, JF926528) the critical breed for determining its therapeutic relevance compared to tither breeds.

The products so far developed are: Coconut biofuel for diesel engines, Kera Nutrivita, Low fat tender coconut cream, Neera as health drink, Neera concentrate, Neera sugar

The institute has completed six research projects funded by technology Mission, Government of India and DST, Government of India for an amount of 2.2 crores. The institute has organized one international seminar on Tissue engineering in 2010 and one National seminar on coconut biofuel in 2015 at SCMS, Cochin.

Currently the research activities of the institute focussed on the molecular mechanism of the insulinomimetic property of stevioside, action of marker genes of wound healing, antidiabetic property of jack fruit and therapeutic effect of Neera

I. Academic & Research Achievements:

1. National award for Dr.C.Mohankumar, Director of SIBBR&D as the best scientist in Product Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India ( 2016)
2. Best paper Award in Life Science for Ms. Divyaa Sreekumar- Wound healing mechanism of Hemigraphis colorata in cell line cultures Swadeshi Science Congress organized by 23rd Swadeshi Science Movement at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam on 6-8th November 2013
3. Best paper award in Biotechnology for Ms. AnuGeethu - Novel therapeutic property of recombinant human GAPDH peptide. 26th Kerala Science Congress organized by Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), January 29-February 1st 2013, Trivandrum
4. Best paper award for Ms. Anisha S – International Seminar on recent biochemical approaches in therapeutics. Bactericidal effect of recombinant bovine lactoferrin proteins and peptides of vechur cow against bovine mastitis disease. Department of Biochemistry, University of Kerala, January 10th 2013
5. Inspire fellowship of Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India– Mr. Vishnu R, M.Sc First Rank, 2009 batch
6. Best paper award for Ms. Anju Nandakumar, National conference on recent advances in Nano-Biotechnology-Prokaryotic Expression and Characterization of Ascorbate Peroxidase, the disease resistant gene in Capsicum annum. Gulbarga university, Karnataka. 20-21st March 2012
7. Best paper award for Ms. Krishna K. Yathi, National conference on recent advances in Nano-Biotechnology. Efficacy of Antiserum of Recombinant Antigen for the Rapid Detection of CHIK Virus by Sandwich ELISA. Gulbarga university, Karnataka. 20-21st March 2012.
8. Best poster presentation award – Mr. SoorajBabu, National conference on recent advances in Nano-Biotechnology Comparative sequence analysis of the full coding regions of Aquaporin genes and their relative gene expression in Pokkali and Jyothi varieties of Oryzasativa. Gulbarga university, Karnataka. 20-21st March 2012.

II. Ongoing research Programmes

External Funded Projects

1. Fractionation, Purification and Structural Elucidation of Active Compound of Hemigraphis colorata and studies on its Molecular mechanism of Wound Healing by in vitro and in vivo methods in keratinocytes, 3T3 fibroblasts and in animal models. Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India, 2014-2017
2. Regulation of the expression of Insulin receptor (INSR) and glucose transporter (glut4) genes in response to stevioside as an antidiabetic agent in normal and insulin sensitive L6E9 myoblast and T3-L1 preadipocytes- Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India, 2011-2013
3. Normalization of the Modified Harvesting Protocol of Coconut Neera by field Trials and Development of a Pilot Plant for Neera Processing, Bottling and Storage. Technology Mission,Coconut Development Board, Govt. of India, 2014-2015
4. Development of Low Fat Nutritionally Rich Delicious Fresh Tender Coconut Cream – Technology Mission, Coconut Development Board, Govt. of India – 2012-2014
5. Evaluation of Coconut Embryonic Tissue - Haustorium for the Production of Value Added Products with respect to its Nutritional, Therapeutic and other Biological Properties - Technology Mission, Coconut Development Board, Govt. of India – 2013-2015
6. Designing a hygienic harvesting process and an appropriate processing technology for sustaining the quality of coconut neera as a nutritive drink. Technology Mission, Coconut Development Board, Govt. of India – 2013-2015

In-house projects

1. Production of recombinant Bromelain (rBRM) in Yeast expression system and comparison of its anticancer property with native Bromelain (nBRM) of Pine apple
2. Anti-cancer property of recombinant human Lactoferrin expressed in plant vector system
3. Nutritional and Therapeutic properties of the fleshy perianth of Mature and ripened fruits of Jack tree- Artocarpus heterophyllus – A biochemical and Molecular analysis.
4. Molecular screening and detection of therapeutic potential of ansamycin natural products from the actinobacteria flora from mangrove belt of Kerala
5. Molecular characterization of human GAPDH and elucidation of its pseudo gene character
6. Earlier Diagnosis of serotypes of dengue virus using recombinant NS1
7. Expression of Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 gene during wound healing in cell line wound models
8. Nutritional evaluation of recombinant Bovine lactoferrin (BLf) protein as a health supplement
9. Enrichment of Steviosides- the natural sweetener in Stevia rebaudiana by over expressing UGT gene

III. Patents filed

Indian patents

1. Sequence, Transgenic Products and Process Thereof- Application No. 982/CHE/2011, dated March 29, 2011
2. Nucleotide and Amino acid Sequence, Methods and Kit Thereof Application No. 980/CHE/2011, dated March 28, 2011
3. A composition and a process thereof – Patent No. 2327/CHE/2007
4. A Herbal composition comprising plant parts of Steviasps and Coffee beans- Patent No. 246859 (Application No. 2310/CHE/2007 – Patent Granted
5. A Process for the production of steviol from Stevia sps – Patent No. 245903 (Application No.1436/CHE/2007)- Patent Granted
6. Coconut cream obtained from tender coconut and method thereof” Application No. 5358/CHE/2013, November 20, 2013

US Patent

PROCESS FOR OBTAINING ESTER.International PCT Application No. PCT/IB2014/063512

Australian Patent

1. Sequence, Transgenic Products and Process Thereof- Application No. PCT/IB2012/051491, dated March 28th 2012
2. Nucleotide and Amino acid Sequence, Methods and Kit Thereof – Application No. PCT/IB2012/051458, dated March 27th 2012

IV. Gene Accession numbers in NCBI gene data bank

1. JN038572, JN038570, JN183868, JN183867, JN183866, JN183865 JN183864 ,JN03857, HQ235029,HQ235028,
2. Q215949,HQ215948,HQ215947,HM063066,HM063065,HM462476,HM462474,HM462473,EU76064,GQ303254,GQ274952,GQ274951,GQ274950,EU722415,EU678358,
   GU059864,GQ259127,EU908061, FJ973623, FJ589071
3. EU908063,EU908062,EU779936,EU779935,EU751292,EU751291,EU741646,EU131893,EU119155,EU119154.EF635500,DQ016370

V. Research Publications in Journals:

International Journals:

1. Salini Bhasker, Harish Madhav, Mohankumar Chinnamma. Molecular evidence of insulinomimetic property exhibited by steviol and stevioside in diabetes induced L6 and 3T3L1 cells. Phytomedicine 2015, 22, 1037-1044.
2. Mohankumar Chinnamma, Salini Bhasker, Harish Madhav, Rajesh MamkulathilDevasia, AnishaShashidharan, Balachandran Chandrasekaran Pillaiand Pradeep Thevannoor. Production of Coconut methyl ester (CME) and glycerol from Coconut (Cocos nucifera) oil and the functional feasibility of CME as Biofuel in diesel engine. Fuel,140 (2015) 4–9.
3. Susan George, Salini Bhasker, Harish Madhav, Archana Nair, C Mohankumar(2014). Functional characterization of recombinant bromelain of Ananas comosus expressed in a prokaryotic system. Molecular Biotechnology 56, 166-174.
4. Krishna K.Yathi, Salini Bhasker, C. Mohankumar (2013) Determination of B cell epitopes and Evaluation of Antigen Capture ELISA for the earlier diagnosis of CHIK Virus using anti-rCHIK E1 rabbit Antibodies. Journal of Immunological methods 393, 45-52
5. Harish Madhav, Salini Bhasker, C Mohankumar (2013) Functional and Structural Variation of Uridine Diphosphate Glycosyltransferase(UGT) gene of Stevia rebaudiana –UGTSr involved in the synthesis of rebaudioside A. Plant Physiology & Biochemistry 63, 245-253
6. AnishaShashidharan, Salini Bhasker, C Mohankumar (2012). Recombinant Lactoferrin (Lf) of Vechur Cow, the Critical Breed of Bos indicus and the Lf Gene Variants. GENE, 495 (1): 23–28
7. Krishna KammaraYathi, Julia Mary Joseph, Salini Bhasker, Ramesh Kumar, Mohankumar C (2011). Recombinant CHIK virus E1 coat protein of 11 KDa with antigenic domains for the detection of Chikungunya. Journal of Immunological Methods, 372 (2011) 171–176
8. AnishaShashidharan, Ruchi Singh, Salini Bhasker, C Mohankumar (2011) Physicochemical Characterization and functional site analysis of lactoferrin gene of Vechur cow, the critical breed of Bos Indicus by bioinformatics approaches. Bioinformation 6(7): 275-278.
9. RB Smitha, Thomas Bennans, C Mohankumar, Sailas Benjamin (2009) Oxidative stress enzymes in Ficusreligiosa L.: Biochemical, histochemical and anatomical evidences. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 95: 17–25.
10. Reeja Rajab, C Mohankumar, K Murugan, M Harish, PV Mohanan (2009) Purification and toxicity studies of stevioside from Stevia rebaudianaBertoni. ToxicolInt 16 (1): 49-54.

National Journals

1. Susan George, Salini Bhasker, Rajesh MamkulathilDevasia, Harish MadhavWarrierand Mohankumar Chinnamma. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) data analysis of SOD and its activity and expression in Elettariacardamomumunder biotic stress Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia, August 2014. Vol. 11(2).
2. A.P. Anugeethu, Salini Bhasker and Chinnamma Mohankumar. Novel Therapeutic Property of Recombinant Human GAPDH Peptide (2013). Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia, Vol. 10, 751-757
3. Rajesh MD, Salini Bhasker, C Mohankumar (2013) Relative Quantification of FAD2 Gene expression and Comparative Analysis of SNPs of Indian Peanut (ArachishypogaeaL.) Cultivars. Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 10(1), 403-410.
4. Anju Nandakumar, Salini Bhasker, C Mohankumar (2013) Functional Variation of Ascorbate Peroxidase in Black Pepper (Piper nigrum) Varieties during Infection of Phytophthoracapsici. Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 10(1), 253-260.
5. Joseph AY, Babu VS, Dev SS, Gopalakrishnapai J, Harish M, Rajesh MD, Anisha S and Mohankumar C. (2008). Rapid detection and characterization of Chikungunya virus in febrile patients,from Kerala, India by RT-PCR. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology. 46: 573-578.

Book Chapters

1. Mohankumar Chinnamma, AnishaShashidharan and Salini Bhasker. Therapeutic Value of Milk of Vechur Cow, the Indigenous Breed of Kerala Listed as Critical by FAO. Chapter 9: Biodiversity Conservation - Challenges for the Future, 2015, 103-111.

VI. Laboratories facilities:

1. Molecular Biology Laboratories –I & II
2. Biochemistry Laboratory
3. Plant Tissue culture Laboratory
4. Animal Cell culture & tissue Engineering laboratory
5. Bioprocessing Laboratory I & II

VIII. Laboratory equipments

1. Real time PCR
2. PCR (Gradient)
3. Eppendorf Mastercycler Personal
4. CO2 Incubator
5. Electroporator
6. ELISA Reader
7. Phase Contrast microscope with fluorescence adapters
8. Biophotometer
9. Infinity Gel Documentation
10. Water Purification system
11. UV Spectrophotometer
12. Stereo Zoom Microscope
13. Freezer vertical (-80°C)
14. Quick Freezer Vertical (-20°C)
15. Orbital Shaking incubator
16. Centrifuge (Non-refrigerated)
17. Mini Centrifuge (refrigerated)
18. Thermomixer
19. Manual sequencing gel unit
20. Isoelectric focusing unit
21. Gel drier
22. Electrophoretic unit (Horizontal and vertical)
23. Electronic Balance
24. pH meter - digital
25. Incubator Shaker
26. LCD
27. Analytical balance
28. Top Loading Balance
29. High Speed homogenizer
30. Rotary vacuum Flash
31. Microprocessor pH meter
32. Autoclave
33. Orbital Shaker
34. Minifuge with strip rotor
35. Serological water bath
36. Laminar flow vertical