Driven by curiosity to understand Nature’s ingenuity in creation, starting from simple atoms to the generation of molecules, assemblies and their controlled interaction culminating at continuously evolving creatures appears to be a never ending endeavor. We at the Biological Sciences division are striving to play our part towards this journey. We have faculty working in frontier areas such as mycology, protein chemistry, structure based drug design, structural biology of immune receptors and other molecules of medicinal and biological importance.
Areas of Research:
- Structural and functional characterization of key enzymes from pathogenic bacteria.
- Rational modification of molecules involved in immune check-point-blockade to create lead molecules for immunotherapy.
- Endophytic fungi from medicinal plants and their secondary metabolites, bioactive compounds and enzymes.
- Chemical modification of therapeutic proteins and drugs using linkers and polyethylene glycol to enhance their activity and half-life.
The biological science division has research facility with more than 6000 sq. ft of lab space. Molecular biology facility for the cloning, recombinant expression, purification of proteins, characterization and crystallization of key biomolecules at ambient temperature and at 4°C. The department is also equipped with facilities such as microbial isolation, identification of microorganisms, biochemical studies like anti-microbial and anti-oxidant assay systems, plant and microbial secondary metabolites extraction systems.
People
 K Ananda Associate Professor; |
E-mail: ananda [at] ppisr.res.in |