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Microbiology

About Department

Department of Environmental Microbiology was initially sanctioned as an Innovative Project for M.Sc. Environmental Microbiology under the School for Environmental Sciences from the Session 2007-2008. It was sanctioned as an independent department by UGC in the year 2010 under School for Environmental Sciences. The Department at present offers M.Sc. and Ph.D. programmes in Environmental Microbiology. Apart from this, there are two PG courses under Innovative and Contemporary Programme running in the Department. These courses viz. M.Sc. in Industrial Microbiology & M.Sc. in Food Microbiology and Toxicology take care of the applied aspects of Microbiology and are industry and job oriented. The department also runs five year Integrated B.Sc.- M.Sc. Basic Sciences course on the pattern of IISER. At present, there are two Professors and seven Assistant Professors in the department with diverse fields of specialization namely Microbial Ecology, Bioremediation and Meta genomics, Rhizosphere Microbiology, Stress Physiology and General Microbiology. The department has well equipped M.Sc. Laboratory and developing state of the art research laboratories. Sustainability of environment is important for the survival of the living creatures on the planet. Microorganisms play several vital roles in the environment which maintain the sustainability of the ecosystems. Due to ever increasing population and industrialization, there is ever increasing pressure on the natural resources. Microorganisms can provide answers to several questions and problems such as environmental pollution, removal of toxic and recalcitrant compounds, food security, can lead to sustainable agriculture by acting as bio fertilizers and bio pesticides, removal of wastes and bioremediation of ecosystems. The focus of the Department is to combat the diverse problems of the environment as microbes can provide the solutions to several of them. The emphasis of research in the Department is on utilizing plant growth promontory rhizobacteria’s for enhancing crop yields in eco-friendly manner, microbes for biodegradation of industrial wastes, bioremediation of polluted ecosystems, optimization of technology for detoxification of distillery and pulp paper mill waste and microbe based foods for food security. The Department has research grants from DST, DBT, and CST. The department is also included in the FIST Programme of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi at Level 1 and a grant of Rs. 28 lakhs has been sanctioned under the scheme. Department has put University on the map of International CV Raman Fellowship programme of the Honourable Prime Minister of India by hosting CV Raman Fellow in the year 2017 from Tunisia. In future, the Department vows to create excellence in the field of bioremediation of natural resources which is one of the target area of research. Students in the Department are trained for all the modern techniques in microbiology and biotechnology. Regular seminars are organized in the department during weekend in which students give presentation on their assigned topics related with topics in Environmental Microbiology. The students of final semester also have to carry out dissertation work in which they get to know about how to pursue minor research projects

Mandate/Objectives of the Department

    The focus of the Department is to combat the diverse problems of the environment as microbes can provide sustainable solutions to several of them. The Infrastructural Facilities of the Department are given below:
  • Development of Centre for Excellence to apply microbes for sustaining the environment by utilizing green and low input biotechnology
  • Establishment of a nodal national center for Microbial Diversity and Bioremediation
  • Provide solutions to industries in relation to environmental problems and remediation of ecosystems
  • Develop trained and skilled manpower according to the need of the industry and society
  • Development of sustainable techniques and approaches in the field of environmental and agricultural microbiology for a better and sustainable future

Infrastructural Facilities (Lab Equipment)


Major and Minor Equipments

  • UV-VIS Spectrophotometer (02)
  • Milli-Pore water assembly (01)
  • Gel Documentation system (01)
  • PCR (1)
  • pH Meter (01)
  • Centrifuge (02)
  • Laminar Flow (03)
  • BOD Incubator (02)
  • Autoclave (02)
  • Ultra Sonicator (01)
  • Deep Freezer (01)
  • Oven (01)
  • Weighing Balance (02)
  • Microwave oven (01)
  • Overhead projector (01)
  • Rotatory shaker (01)
  • Gel Electrophoresis (01)
  • Refrigerators (14)
  • Ion Meter Hanna (01)
  • Rotary Vacuum Evaporator (01)
  • Electrodes(01)
  • Spectrophotometer Nanodrop (01)
    • Course Name M.Sc. (Environmental Microbiology)
    Intake 40

    Course Name M.Sc. (Food Microbiology and Toxicology)
    Intake 20

    Course Name Integrated B.Sc./M.Sc. Basic Sciences
    Intake 40

    Course Name M.Sc. (Industrial Microbiology)
    Intake 20

    Course Name M. Sc.(Nanoscience and Nanotechnology)
    Intake 20

    Course Name Ph.D(Enviornmental Microbiology)
    Intake As per Ph.D. Ordinance

    Prof. Ram Chandra
     Professor

    Environmental Microbiology Bioremediation and Metagenomics Biodegradation and their Environmental Effect of Distillery and Pulp Paper Mill Effluent Environmental Biotechnology Environmental Impact Assessment

    Qualification:M. Sc. , Ph. D.
    Teaching Experience:15 Years
    Research Experience:27 Years
    :9450652324 :prof.chandrabbau@gmail.com
    Dr. Pankaj Kumar Arora
     Assistant Professor

    Editorial Board Member: Scientific Reports, Frontiers in Microbiology (Associate Editor), PLOS ONE

    Qualification:Ph.D (Environmental Microbiology)
    Teaching Experience:03 Years
    Research Experience:11 Years
    : :arora484@gmail.com
    Dr. Harish Chandra
     Assistant Professor

    Immunotoxicology; Immunoproteomics of microbial pathogens; Environmental Microbiology, Novel Drug Targets/ Vaccine Development; DC-T cell Interaction; Host-Pathogen Interaction; Microbiome/Metagenomics

    Qualification: M.Sc, PGD, Ph.D
    Teaching Experience & Research Experience:14 Years
    :+91-7701848635 : chandrhh@gmail.com

    Faculty Achievements

    A bacterial consortium comprising with Klebsiella pneumoniae (KU321273), Salmonella enteric (KU726954), Enterobacter aerogenes (KU726955), and Enterobacter cloacae (KU726957) were found capable for degradation of sucrose-glutamic acid maillard products as well as molasses melanoidin, which showed for decolorisation and detoxification process of molasses melanoidin containing anaerobically treated distillery effluent for environmental safety. Bacillus and stenotrophomonas species were detected from organic acid and endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) rich environment of distillery spent wash, as autochthonous bacterial communities. These bacterial communities indicated as pioneer taxa for in-situ remediation of these hazardous waste during ecological succession of polluted site. In addition, the phytoextraction potential of heavy metals by native wetland plant growing on chlorolignin sludge of pulp & paper mill waste and EDC are containing organometallic complex waste of distillery sludge as biotechnological tools for in-situ phytoremediation. The hyperaccumulation potential for heavy metal accumulation from polluted site were observed. The cellular observation of these native plants indicted the specialized mechanism for hyperaccumulation of heavy metals from polluted site with complex waste.
    Contact Number: Prof Rajesh Kumar
    Professor & Head
    Department of Microbiology
    +91-9412090052
    rajesh4971@yahoo.com