Research Projects of → Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Department

Project Title :

Aqueous and hydroalcoholic extraction of selected anukta dravya plants and evaluation of their therapeutic efficacy for various diseases.
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradeep Kumar Naik
Co-Investigator and Affiliation : Dr. Ashirbad Nanda, Dr. Satish Kanhar, Dr. Shiva Prasad Mohanty
Funding Agency : Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of Ayush, Sanction No. 1258/2022-23, Dated: 16.02.2023
Amount Sanction and Duration : 115.84 Lakhs   -   April 2023 to March 2025
Project Proposal :
  • Collection of Anukta Dravya plants, namely Cipadessa baccifera (Roth.) Miq., Erycibe paniculata Roxb., Ficus semicordata Buch.-Ham.ex Sm, Pittosporum floribundum Wight & Arn., Pothos scandens L., Remusatia vivipara (Roxb.) Schott., Blepharispermum subsessile DC., Dalbergia volubilis Roxb. and Homalium ceylanicum (Gardn.) Benth. followed by air drying and pulverizing to a fine powder.
  • Preparation of suitable solvent extracts (hydro-alcohol and aqueous) of the different plant parts by various extraction techniques such as microwave-assisted extraction/soxhlet extraction.
  • Phytochemical screening of plant extracts and identification of the compounds in the extracts by techniques like LC-HRMS and GC-MS and standardization of the plant extracts as per the CCRAS guidelines and ASU Pharmacopoeia on different parameters like Authentication, Foreign matter, Organoleptic characters, Macroscopic and Microscopic characters, Loss on Drying, Total Ash, Acid-insoluble ash, Extractable value (Alcohol and Water), Heavy metal analysis, Microbial load, Aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2), Chromatographic profiles (TLC, HPLC or GC), Assay of marker compounds and analysing pesticide residues.
  • Evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of the crude extracts in both in-vitro (biochemical and cellular assays) and in-vivo by designing suitable experiments according to different activity study using suitable animal models.
  • Evaluation of lethal dose, acute toxicity and sub-acute toxicity in both in-vitro (biochemical and cellular assays) and in-vivo using suitable animal models like rat/mice.
Project Title :

Mechanistic studies in elucidation of shodhana for nine poisonous medicinal plants of E1 schedule
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradeep Kumar Naik
Co-Investigator and Affiliation : Multi-institutional project with CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow and CCRAS, Jhansi
Funding Agency : Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of Ayush, Sanction No. 1458/2022-23, Dated: 22.03.2023
Amount Sanction and Duration : 25.24 Lakhs (Sambalpur University share)   -   March 2023 to February 2026
Project Proposal :
  • Metabolic profiling, identification and quantification of major and minor phytomolecules in pre and post shodhana samples of selected medicinal plants.
  • Phytochemical screening of the Sodhana extracts through liquid Chromatography-High resolution mass spectroscopy (LC-HRMS) to identify the unknown compounds present in the extracts
  • Process optimization and to carry out shelf life studies of all the processed/Shodhita samples.
  • Standardization of Shodhana procedures and developing SOPs for industrial adoption.
Project Title :

DBT-BUILDER, Sambalpur University interdisciplinary Life Science programme for advanced research and education
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradeep Kumar Naik
Co-Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Binata Nayak, Dr. Iswar Baitharu, Dr. Amiya Kumar Patel, Dr. Birendra Behera, Dr. Sunanda Sahoo, Dr. Hirak Chakraborty, Dr. Nirius Jenan Ekka, Dr. Surya Narayan Pradhan, School of Life Sciences
Funding Agency : Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, Sanction No.
Amount Sanction and Duration : 534 Lakhs   -   March 2021 to March 2026
Project Proposal :
  • Establish a Central Analytical Instrumentation Facility to boost the education and research in this socio-economically challenged area where students/researchers/college teachers may have access to the facilities needed in advanced level training on instrumentation, undertaking dissertation works, and product/process development in Life Sciences.
  • Collection of prioritized high-value medicinal plants from the Gandhamardan hills with therapeutic potential, development of database and extraction of bioactive phytochemicals/fractions, chemical characterization, product development, extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials (with the help of our collaborator, SSN Ayurved College & Research Institute affiliated under Sambalpur University) with patient volunteers for therapeutic uses.
  • Generate baseline data on accumulation of heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants and pesticides on crop fields, water bodies, agricultural products and their association with chronic health disorders (like cancers and chronic kidney diseases) through analysis of flow pathway and food chain and estimation of Chronic Daily Intake towards societal benefits.
  • To detect the level of pesticides, persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals in patients’ blood/tissue and their correlation with the chronic diseases as well as to investigate the mechanism using in vitro and in vivo animal models.
  • Provide a rare opportunity to the traditional healers and vaidyas as a knowledge centre towards isolation and characterization of the active biomolecules from the plant extract/herbal formulations developed by them for scientific investigation, refinement of their formulation and extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials for better acceptability to improve their livelihood.
Project Title :

Centre of Excellence in Natural Products and Therapeutics.
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradeep Kumar Naik
Co-Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradipta Kumar Behera, Dr. Amiya Kumar Patel, Dr. Smaranika Pattnaik, Dr. Birendra Behera, Dr. Amaresh Mishra, Dr. Naba Kishore Behera, Dr. Ram Naresh Mahaling, Dr. Satya Narayan Sahu, Dr. Hirak Chakraborty
Funding Agency : Department of Higher Education, Govt. of Odisha
Amount Sanction and Duration : 400 Lakhs   -   November 2019 to March 2024
Project Proposal :
  • Collection of prioritized high-value indigenous medicinal plants from Gandhamardan hills with therapeutic potential, their authentication based on DNA fingerprinting, DNA bar coding and study their diversity and distribution pattern.
  • Extraction of phytochemicals from plant materials and their chemical fingerprinting, activity-guided fractionation of crude extract, purification and structural elucidation of bioactive molecules pertaining to formulation of standardized, efficacious and safe herbal products for therapeutic uses.
  • Strategic design of derivatives of bioactive molecules through chemical modification, followed by chemical synthesis for better therapeutic efficacy.
  • Comprehensive preclinical evaluation (biochemical, biophysical, cellular, computational analyses and animal model studies) and toxicity profiling (histopathological, hematological and behavioral study) of the developed products.
  • Translation of knowledge of the innovative process of product development and therapeutic uses of medicinal plants to local communities for their socio-economic development.
  • Production of plant materials for quality improvement, sustainable conservation and utilization.
Project Title :

Optimization of natural anticancer agent, Noscapine by rational design of its derivatives: chemical synthesis and preclinical evaluation for the management of breast cancer.
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradeep Kumar Naik
Co-Investigator and Affiliation : Dr. Srinivas Kantevari, Prof. Goutam Rath, Dr. Amiya Kumar Patel
Funding Agency : Indian Council of India (ICMR), Govt. of India, Sanction No. 5/13/11/2020-NCD-III, Dated: 22.03.2021
Amount Sanction and Duration : 48.41 Lakhs   -   March 2021 to March 2024
Project Proposal :
  • To strategically design library of novel derivatives of noscapine through modification of functional groups or appendages attached to its scaffold and screening of promising derivatives by computer aided drug design techniques with high binding affinity onto alpha and beta tubulin complex, followed by chemical synthesis, structural characterization and purification.
  • To evaluate the biochemical and in vitro cellular anticancer efficacy of novel and potent derivative of noscapine using a panel of breast cancer cell lines, primary tumor cells isolated from the surgically removed tumor tissues and normal epithelial cells. Towards this end we will determine the effect of potent derivatives to (i) inhibit cellular proliferation, (ii) binding affinity with tubulin, (iii) affect cell cycle kinetics and (iv) induction of apoptosis.
  • To evaluate the in vivo therapeutic efficacy of promising derivatives of noscapine as an inhibitor of localized breast cancer. We will achieve this by (a) initially implanting solid tumor in mice model followed by administration of drug and by monitoring the decrease in tumor volume; (b) evaluate the toxicity profile by (i) histopathological and (ii) hematological study. By doing so, we aim to assess the clinical potential and potential side effects of the drug molecule.
Project Title :

Big data platform for temporal storage of clinical data of patients of cardiovascular diseases and data mining for better diagnosis and treatment.
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradeep Kumar Naik
Co-Investigator and Affiliation : Dr. Madhumita Panda, Dr. Siddhartha Sathia, Dr. Dipak Ranjan Das
Funding Agency : Indian Council of India (ICMR), Govt. of India, Sanction No. ISRM/12(129)/2020, Dated: 16.11.2020
Amount Sanction and Duration : 21.15 Lakhs   -   November 2020 to October 2023
Project Proposal :
  • To create a data warehouse for long term and temporal storage of multidimensional clinical data of patients in non-volatile state compliant with issues of interoperability, privacy, security, scalability and reliability.
  • Development of automated tools (including quality checking and mapping pipelines, pre-processing, dimensionality reduction and multivariate classification) for extracting relevant information from clinical data.
  • To design an interactive ensemble platform and prediction tool for mining temporal form of clinical data set in order to predict or diagnose the state (progression) of the disease to assess the cardiovascular risk of patients.
  • Use of the designed tools to extract new knowledge and transfer it to the medical setting with focus on CVDs and possible extension to other diseases. The final goal is to provide reliable diagnostic predictor tools to the clinicians.
Project Title :

Targeting specifically breast tumor cells by developing potent derivative of tubulin binding anticancer agent, noscapine and conjugating it with folic acid.
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradeep Kumar Naik
Co-Investigator and Affiliation : Dr. Srinivas Kanteveri, Dr. Saroj Kumar Das, Dr. Amiya Kumar Patel
Funding Agency : Indian Council of India (ICMR), Govt. of India, Sanction No. 5/13/13/2019/NCD-III, Dated: 30.08.2019
Amount Sanction and Duration : 51.0 Lakhs   -   October 2019 to September 2022
Project Proposal :
  • To strategically develop a library of derivatives of noscapine and screening of promising derivatives by computer-aided drug design (CADD) techniques followed by chemical synthesis, structural characterization and purification.
  • To investigate the anti-proliferative activity with breast cancer cell lines and tubulin binding affinity of the selected derivatives of noscapine to screen the most potent derivative.
  • To strategically conjugate the most potent derivative of noscapine with folic acid (called folate-noscapinoid conjugate), its chemical synthesis, structural characterization and purification.
  • To investigate the cancer cell killing potential and induction of apoptotic cell death of 'folate-noscapinoid conjugate' using aggressive breast cancer cell lines that over-express folate receptor (e.g. T47D, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-435).
  • To evaluate the in vivo therapeutic efficacy of 'folate-noscapinoid conjugate' by implanting solid tumor in mice model followed by administration of drug and by monitoring the decrease in tumor volume.
  • To evaluate the toxicity profile of ‘folate-noscapinoid conjugate' using animal model.
Project Title :

Isolation and Characterisation of Novel Anticancer and Immunomodulatory Compounds from A Medicinal Herb Remusatia vivipara Schott. Found in Gandhamardan Hills, Western Orissa
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Dr. Birendra Behera
Co-Investigator and Affiliation :
Funding Agency : DST SERB, Govt. of India EEQ/2018/000752, 20 February, 2019
Amount Sanction and Duration : 30.69 lakhs   -  
Project Proposal :
  • In house cultivation of R. vivipara.
  • In vitro evaluation of anticancer compoud(s) from R. vivipara extracts.
  • In vitro evaluation of immunomodulatory compound(s) from R. vivipara.
  • Phytochemical analysis of selective extracts R. vivipara plant parts having anticancer and immunomodulatory activities.
  • Evaluation of selected anticancer compounds and BRMs for their in vivo efficacy in mice models.
Project Title :

Development of synthetic derivatives of natural compound, Noscapine as tubulin binding chemotherapeutic agent and evaluation of its synergistic effect with Taxotere for management of human breast cancer
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradeep Kumar Naik
Co-Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Anand M. Ramteke, Prof. Sabita Mohapatra, Dr. Srinivas Kantevari
Funding Agency : Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, Sanction No. BT/PR24726/NER/95 833/2017, Date: 23.03.2018
Amount Sanction and Duration : 75 Lakhs, March   -   2018 to March, 2021
Project Proposal :
  • To rationally design novel and potent derivative of Noscapine (called Noscapinoid) with high binding affinity onto α- and β-tubulin complex followed by chemical synthesis and structural characterization.
  • To evaluate and establish the in vitro anticancer efficacy of novel microtubule-interfering agent (design above) using breast cancer cells. Towards this end we will determine the effect of novel Noscapinoid to (i) inhibit cellular proliferation, (ii) perturb spindle architecture, (iii) binding affinity with tubulin, (iv) affect cell cycle kinetics, and (v) induce apoptosis in breast cancer cells.
  • To determine the combination dose regimen of promising Noscapinoid and Docetaxel (a clinically used taxane for metastatic breast cancer therapy) and evaluate its therapeutic outcome using in vitro models.
  • To evaluate the in vivo therapeutic efficacy of promising Noscapinoid as an inhibitor of localized and metastatic breast cancer using breast cancer model established in animal.
  • To evaluate the toxicity if any of promising Noscapinoid based on histopathology and hematology studies using animal model.
  • To determine the combination dose regimen of promising noscapinoid and Docetaxel (a clinically used taxane for metastatic breast cancer therapy) and evaluate its therapeutic outcome using in vivo model as well as toxicity analysis
Project Title :

Preclinical efficacy evaluation of extremely promising novel noscapinoid: A tubulin-binding agent in the management of breast cancer.
Principal Investigator and Affiliation : Prof. Pradeep Kumar Naik
Co-Investigator and Affiliation : Dr. Manas Ranjan Naik
Funding Agency : Science and Technology Department, Govt. of Odisha, Sanction No. 1207/ST, Bhubaneswar, Date: 01.03.2017
Amount Sanction and Duration : 8.96 Lakhs   -   July 2017 to June 2020
Project Proposal :
  • To rationally design novel and potent derivative of Noscapine (called Noscapinoid) with high binding affinity onto α- and β-tubulin complex followed by chemical synthesis and structural characterization.
  • To evaluate and establish the in vitro anticancer efficacy of novel microtubule-interfering agent (design above) using breast cancer cells. Towards this end we will determine the effect of novel Noscapinoid to (i) inhibit cellular proliferation, (ii) perturb spindle architecture, (iii) binding affinity with tubulin, (iv) affect cell cycle kinetics, and (v) induce apoptosis in breast cancer cells.
  • To evaluate the in vivo therapeutic efficacy of promising Noscapinoid as an inhibitor of localized and metastatic breast cancer using breast cancer model established in mice.
  • To evaluate the toxicity if any of promising Noscapinoid based on histopathology and hematology studies using mice model.