The Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) is a premier research institution in the Indian subcontinent. In true justification of our name, we are dedicated to carry out integrated research in classical as well as emerging areas of microbiology. Our aim is to obtain fundamental scientific insights, and also to develop novel technologies from these. While browsing through our website, you will find that our researchers have achieved both national and international recognition for their accomplishments.

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Head

Dr. Suresh Korpole

Yeasts and Patent Depositary

Expertise:

Antimicrobial peptides from prokaryotic diversity existing in complex ecosystems.

Profile:

Microorganisms existing in complex environments often require capability to produce antimicrobial compounds as a competitive advantage. Therefore, our laboratory focused on isolation and characterization of novel antimicrobial peptides including different types of bacteriocins from microbial diversity of complex ecosystems. We are also characterizing their biosynthetic gene clusters using whole genome sequence analysis approach for their heterologous expression. To this effect, we have characterized few antimicrobial peptides from members of the genera like Brevibacillus, Paenibacillus, Bacillus Clostridium, Lactobacillus etc. The crystal structure analysis of a Brevibacillus sp. strain GI-9 from our lab revealed for the first time it as a defensin analogue of prokaryotes.

Major Publications

Baindara, P., Gautam, A. Raghava, G.P.S., and Korpole, S. (2017). Anticancer properties of a defensin like class IId bacteriocin laterosporulin10. Sci. Rep. 7:46541.
Nallabelli, N., Patil., P. P., Pal, V. K., Singh, N., Jain, A., Patil, P. B., Grover, V., and Korpole, S. (2016). Biochemical and genome sequence analyses of Megasphaera sp. strain DISK18 from dental plaque of a healthy individual reveals commensal lifestyle. Sci. Rep. 6:33665.
Baindara, P., Singh, N., Ranjan, M., Nallabelli, N., Chaudhry, V., Pathania, G.L., Sharma, N., Kumar, A., Patil, P. B., and Korpole, S. (2016). Laterosporulin10: a novel defensin like class IId bacteriocin from Brevibacillus sp. strain SKDU10 with inhibitory activity against microbial pathogens. Microbiol, 162; 1286-1299.
Baindara, P., Chaudhry, V., Mittal, G., Liao, L. M., Matos, C. O., Khatri, N., Franco, O. L., Patil, P. B., and Korpole, S. (2016). Characterization of the antimicrobial peptide Penisin, a class Ia novel lantibiotic from Paenibacillus sp. strain A3. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 60(1) 580-591.
Singh, P. K., Solanki, V., Sharma, S., Thakur, K. G., Krishnan, B., and Korpole, S. (2015). Intra-molecular Disulfide-stapled structure of Laterosporulin, a class IId bacteriocin, conceals human defensin-like structural module. FEBS Journal (Cover page article) 282: 203-214.

: Head.mtcc@imtech.res.in : 01726665705

Scientist

Dr. P. Anil Kumar

Senior Scientist: Bacteria/ Phototrophic bacteria

: Apinnaka@imtech.res.in : 01726665728

Dr.V.Venkata Ramana

Senior Scientist

: Venkat@imtech.res.in : 01726665749

Dr. S. Krishnamurthi

Scientist: Extremophiles & Human Microbiome

Write-up of research and development interests/focus, past and present goals:

The lab is engaged in research work related to understanding structure of microbial communities in different marine habitats of the country as systematic sampling of these sites is lacking and diversity data pertaining to these ecosystems are scanty. One of the aims is to understand bacterial diversity from Western Ghats that are one of the major biodiversity hot spots of the world. We aim to focus on sampling selected niches from coastal part of the state Goa and attempt to cultivate hitherto “uncultivated and/or difficult to culture” bacteria. One of our targets is to utilize this overwhelmingly complex bacterial diversity for discovering novel biomolecules with applications in clinical and/or pharmaceutical industry with the premise that “marine habitats offer an increased opportunity for discovering novel biomolecules in lieu of the unique selective pressures of the marine ecosystem where chemical and physical conditions differ significantly from the terrestrial environment that have resulted in production of novel compounds to aid in their survival”.

The emphasis of the research group is also concentrated on detailing the abundant bacterial fraction from various environmental habitats using molecular tools such as FISH and CARD-FISH in collaboration Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology, Bremen. These techniques are free from biases of PCR based methodologies and can help detect the uncultivable and/or viable but not culturable bacterial cells from phylum to genus level depending on the specificity of the probes.

Significant recognition: Awards, fellowships, international funding of distinction, technologies transferred/licensed etc.:

Awarded the Max Planck Group (MPG)-DST visiting fellowship for the year 2011

Selected list of Publications and Patents:

Deepika Pal, Navjot Kaur, Sarabjit Kaur Sudan, Bhavna Bisht, Srinivasan Krishnamurthi & Shanmugam Mayilraj (2018). Acidovorax kalamii sp. nov., isolated from a water sample of the river Ganges. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 68, 1719-1724.

Sarabjit Kaur Sudan, Deepika Pal, Bhavna Bisht, Narender Kumar, Vasvi Chaudhary, Prabhu Patil, Girish Sahni, Shanmugam Mayilraj & Srinivasan Krishnamurthi (2018). Pseudomonas fluv- ialis sp. nov., a novel member of the genus Pseudomonas isolated from the river Ganges, India. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 68, 402-408.

Deepika Pal, Ayanka Bhardwaj, Sarabjeet Kour Sudan, Navjot Kaur, Munesh Kumari, Bhawana Bisht, Bhawna Vyas, Srinivasan Krishnamurthi & Shanmugam Mayilraj (2018). Thaurea propionica isolated from a downstream sediment sample of the river Ganges, Kanpur, India. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 68 341-346.

Deepika Pal, Ayanka Bhardwaj, Navjot Kaur, Sarabjeet Kour Sudan, Bhawana Bisht, Munesh Kumari, Bhawna Vyas, Srinivasan Krishnamurthi & Shanmugam Mayilraj (2018). Fictibacillus aquaticus sp. nov., isolated from downstream river water. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 68, 160-164.

Ashish Verma, Yash Pal, Anup Kumar Ojha, Harald Gruber-Vodicka, Peter Schumann, Syed G. Dastager, Srikrishna Subramanian, Shanmugam Mayilraj & Srinivasan Krishnamurthi (2017). Examination into the taxonomic position of Bacillus thermotolerans Yang et al., 2013, proposal for its reclassification into a new genus and species Quasibacillus thermotolerans gen. nov., comb. nov. and reclassification of B. encimensis Dastager et al., 2015 as a later heterotypic synonym of B. badius. Syst Appl Microbiol. 40, 411-422.

Ashish Verma, Anup Kumar Ojha, Yash Pal, Parveen Kumari, Peter Schumann, Harald Gruber-Vodicka, Syed G. Dastager, Rameshkumar Natarajan, Shanmugam Mayilraj & Srinivasan Krishnamurthi (2017). An investigation into the taxonomy of “Bacillus aminovorans” and its reclassification to the genus Domibacillus as Domibacillus aminovorans sp. nov. Syst Appl Microbiol. 40 , 458-467.

Present group members:

Ashish Verma: SRF

Yash Pal: SRF

Pooja Yadav: JRF

Poonam Kumari: SRF

Joyashree Das: JRF

Praveen Kumar: JRF

Past group Members

Anup Kumar Jha: Project Assistant

Shivasundharam: Project-JRF

: Kmurthi@imtech.res.in : 0172666748

Dr. Nithya Vadakedath

Senior Scientist

Expertise

Microbial diversity, Whole genome sequencing and genotyping, Genetic engineering, Drug discovery

Profile

Dr. Nithya Vadakedath is a molecular microbiologist. Her research interest is to study bacterial diversity and identify their functionality via (meta-) genome analyses as well as to develop rational, directed screening techniques to discover novel microbial species and metabolites with application potentials. Her focus is also on the application of emerging synthetic biology and genetic engineering approaches to produce new complex and high-value-added compounds for the pharmaceutical sector. She is involved in projects related to human microbiota and its functional role in health and diseases, and bioremediation of hazardous chemicals by microbes and understand how they adapt to these environments and metabolize the toxic chemicals using omics-based approaches.

Publications

Ebenezer TE, Zoltner M, Burrell A, Nenarokova A, Vanclová AMGN, Prasad B, Soukal P, Santana-Molina C, O’Neill E, Nankissoor NN, Nithya V, Daiker V, et al. (2019). Transcriptome, proteome and draft genome of Euglena gracilis. BMC Biol, 17:11.
Nithya V, Halami PM (2019). Characterization and mode of action of a potent bio-preservative from food-grade Bacillus licheniformis MCC 2016. Prep Biochem Biotechnol, 49(4):334-343.
Prasad B, Lein W, General T, Lindenberger CP, Buchholz R, Nithya V (2019). Stable nuclear transformation of rhodophyte species Porphyridium purpureum: advanced molecular tools and an optimized method. Photosynth Res, 140(2):173-188.
Nithya V, Prakash M, Halami PM (2018) Utilization of industrial waste for production of bio-preservative from Bacillus licheniformis Me1 and its application in milk and milk-based food products. Probiotics Antimicrob Proteins, 10(2):228-235.
Prasad B, Nithya V, Jeong HJ, General T, Man-Gi Cho, Lein W (2014) Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation of haptophytes (Isochrysis species). J Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98(20):8629-8639.

Link to publication list:

https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?hl=en&user=v4KV1_sAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&gmla=AJsN-F4PfDMEJp0ttjFHNLtDMfX6IxDxc0phDc2FDEkdatLgrmsDZ-Wukfyh1FSzI2229T_Fofb2-0aiPmoPOppoalxSUrc94w

: Nithya@imtech.res.in : 01726665747

Technical Staff

Dr. Dhan Prakash

Senior Technical Officer (Molecular Characterization : Bacteria, Yeast & Fungi)

: Dhan@imtech.res.in : 01726665730

Dr. S Muthukrishnan

Senior Technical Officer (Bioinformatics/Data Center)

Publications:

1. Muthukrishnan, S* and MunishPuri*.(2018). Harnessing the evolutionary information on Oxygen binding proteins through Support Vector Machines based module. BMC Research Notes 11:290
2. Muthukrishnan, S*. (2018). Using Chou's general PseAAC to analyze the evolutionary relationship of receptor associated proteins (RAP) with various folding patterns of protein domains. Journal of Theoretical Biology 445, 62-74.
3. Muthukrishnan, S*.(2016) Classify vertebrate hemoglobin proteins by incorporating the evolutionary information into the general PseAAC with the hybrid approach. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 409, 27-37.
4. MuthuKrishnan, S, Munish Puri, Kanak L. Dikshit, and Christophe Lefevre. (2016) “BacHbpred: Support Vector Machine Methods for the Prediction of Bacterial Hemoglobin-Like Proteins,” Advances in Bioinformatics, vol. 2016.
5. MuthuKrishnan, S, Puri, M*., & Lefevre, C. (2014). Support vector machine (SVM) based multiclass prediction with basic statistical analysis of plasminogen activators. BMC Research Notes, 7(1), 63.
6. Muthukrishnan, S., Puri, M*., & Lefevre, C. (2013). Analysis and Prediction of Major Blood Proteins Based on Their Amino Acid and Dipeptide Composition. International Journal of Bioinformatics Research, 5(1), 285-288.
7. Muthukrishnan, S., Aarti Garg, and G. P. S. Raghava. (2007). "Oxypred: Prediction and Classification of Oxygen-Binding Proteins." Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics 5.3: 250-252.