| consists of four major groups - Molecular biology and Biotechnology
- Phytochemistry
- Seaweed cultivation
- Marine environment. The mandate of respective groups is as follows.
| 1. Molecular biology and Biotechnology |
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| This group is actively pursuing research in the field of molecular biology and biotechnology to study and enhance the potentials of marine and halophytic resources. The studies focus mainly on understanding the molecular mechanism of stress tolerance, functional genomics, molecular taxonomy, biodiversity and bioremediation. The current research activities are centered on 1. Proteomics and genomics of halophytes and marine algae, 2. Selection and molecular characterization of improved clones developed through tissue culture of economically important seaweeds, 3. Exploitation of marine microbes for value added products and bioremediation of aquatic environment. 4. Biopigments from cyanobacteria/microalgae as a source of pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical substances. Yet another important activity is human resource development in the area of molecular biology and biotechnology of halophytes, macro algae, and marine microbes.
| | | The major thrust activity of this group is value addition of seaweeds and seaweed polysaccharides. Several environmental-friendly technologies have been developed and patented (US and PCT) for preparation of agarose, bacteriological agar, semi refined- and refined--carrageenans from different red seaweeds. Recently, US patent has been granted (USP 6,893,479) for an integrated process to simultaneously obtain liquid fertilizer and -carrageenan from fresh Eucheuma seaweed. Yet another area of focus with vast potential is development of biodegradable films and non-animal gelatin based on seaweed polysaccharides. Development of methods for physical and chemical modifications of agar and carrageenan is another emerging area. As a part of ongoing DOD-funded National Programme on "Drugs from the sea", seaweeds as a source of bioactives are also being investigated.
| | | The main thrust of seaweed cultivation activity is to develop sustainable cultivation technology for commercial farming of red and brown seaweeds for bacteriological agar, agarose, carrageenan and alginates. Recently, cultivation technology for Kappaphycus alvarezii, main source of -carrageenan, has been commercialized and thereby heralding the era of commercial cultivation of seaweeds in the country. Considering the nutritional value of some edible seaweed, new initiatives have been taken to develop methods for farming edible seaweeds on Indian coast. The present focus in cultivation is to develop methods that minimize loss of crops resulting from extreme rough sea conditions due to natural calamities such as typhoons, tsunami and grazing by herbivores. In addition, studies on life cycle, taxonomy, biodiversity and biology of seaweeds also being carried out to identify and cultivate seaweeds with novel products.
| | | Monitoring of environmental quality of coastal region, environment impact assessment studies, environment audit, identification and performance evaluation of wastewater outfalls, ecological survey and other oceanographic studies are actively pursued by this group. As recognized environment auditors by Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of Gujarat, assignments of environmental audit, EIA, baseline studies, monitoring of pollution of coastal waters are also being undertaken for a number of companies. Several environments related R & D projects are being carried out to develop solutions for environment related problems. The department has a multidisciplinary team of researchers consisting of environmentalists, chemists, microbiologists, botanists, biotechnologists, marine biologists, chemical engineer, oceanographer, molecular biologists etc to tackle effectively wide range of environmental problems
| CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN MARINE BIOTECHNOLOGY |
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| The Centre of Excellence in Marine Biotechnology, We have state-of-art R&D facilities for basic and applied research in Molecular Biology & Biotechnology. The main thrust areas of the Centre are - Stress genomics- particularly isolation and characterization of novel salt tolerant genes, transcript profiling, promoter isolation, vector construction and transgenics for enhanced salt tolerance; Halophilic biofertilizer- molecular characterization and biotechnological application of halotolerant PGPR & Seaweed – molecular taxonomy and biodiversity, cultivation and biotechnology.
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