MEMBER - UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT

Biofilms

Vision
To be recognised globally as a Centre of Excellence in the field of Biofilms Biology, imparting knowledge and promoting interdisciplinary research for scientific discovery.

Mission

  • To develop novel antibiofilms therapeutics .
  • To educate students in the area biofilms and groom young scientistsin Research and Development.
  • To build the capacity of technical personnel.
  • To provide solutions for issues in the environmental and health sectors.

Research Activities

  • To carry out advanced interdisciplinary research activities in the area of microbial biofilms.
  • To take up new projects funded by extramural agencies and industries.
  • To conduct courses with significant participation of external faculty, industrial and regulatory experts on microbiology and biofilms.
  • Entering into collaborative research engagements with Research Institutes and Industrial Organizations for better understanding of issues of scientific and technological management between different stakeholders.

Projects at Centre of Excellence in Biofilms
Funded Project : DST-SERB (ECR/2017/001335)

Project Title: Stress resistance and characterization of exopolysaccharides secreted by oral bacterial biofilm communities: A target for developing novel antibiofilm therapeutics.

Project description:

Colonization of bacteria in human oral cavities can cause serious issues for human health and social economics. Most importantly dental caries prevalence is as high as 60-80% in Indian children. Generally, periodontal disease is more common in adults. The Ministry of Health,Govt. of India, has launched the primary health care program focussed on its prevention and has spent huge amounts for the control measures, every year. It is also becoming more important to understand the whole physiological function of bacteria in biofilm, as metabolic changes control the balance of symbiotic (healthy) and pathogenic species within the oral bacterial communities. Currently advanced technologyis available to study the function of oral microbial communities, primarily focusing on mono species biofilms whereas, mixed species communities are less known. There are only very few reports on multi species biofilm using saliva as sole carbon source to grow the biofilms, while some reports recently describe dual-species and triple-species biofilm models. There is relatively a lack of understanding in the molecular mechanisms of multispecies interaction. Developing new methods to study the stress tolerance mechanisms, especially with the mixed species communities, is essential for guiding the information that helps to plan a strategy to improve human oral health.
The main objectives of the project are characterization of the matrix composition of mono species and mixed species biofilm communities, to identify and study the exopolysaccharides secreted by mono and mixed species biofilm.

OngoingProjects : Studies of isolation, identification and characterization of marine biofilm forming bacteria and its ability to degrade oil contaminants.

Project Description:

Marine pollution has a huge impact in the environment. There are several sources and types of pollution that occur due to the release of various contaminants. One of the major contributors is oil spills. Sources for these include releases of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs and wells, spills of refined petroleum products (such as gasoline and diesel) and their by-products and the spills of any oily white refuse or waste oil. Bioremediation is a promising tool for the degradation of these contaminants in an eco-friendly manner. From an ecological perspective, microorganisms in environmental biofilms actively participate in ecosystem functioning. Biofilm formation is useful as well as harmful in healthcare, drinking water distribution systems, food, and marine industries etc., Biofilms offer beneficial roles in a variety of fields including applications in plant protection, bioremediation, wastewater treatment, and corrosion inhibition amongst others. Our present work mainly focuses on the isolation and characterization of marine biofilm forming bacteria.
Our objectives of our present work mainly focus on the isolation and characterization of marine biofilm forming bacteria from sediment and water samples collected from the beach shores of Nemmeli, Nivac and Mutukadu located near Chennai and to find its ability to degrade oil.

Training offered: Internship training on Microbial Biofilms

Research Publications

  1. Anand R, Vihaashriee, Johanna Rajkumar and Saravanan Periasamy “Isolation and characterization of marine biofilm forming bacteria and its ability to degrade oil. International Conference on Challenges in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering for Sustainable Development, AnnamalaiUniversity, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, March 23 & 24, 2022.
  2. Poornachandra G, Anand R, and Saravanan Periasamy “Investigations on the synergistic antibiofilm activity of antibiotics and sodium dodecyl sulfate on oral biofilm forming bacteria. International Conference on Challenges in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering for Sustainable Development, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, March 23 & 24, 2022.
  3. Poornachandra G, Anand R, Johanna Rajkumar and Saravanan Periasamy “Stress resistance of biofilm forming bacterial isolates from human oral cavities” International Conference in Recent Progress in Biological Sciences,AyyaNadarJanakiAmmalCollege (Autonomous), Sivakasi, Tamilnadu - March 4 & 5, 2022
  4. Anand R, Meeralakshmi MS, Johanna Rajkumar, and Saravanan Periasamy, “Extracellular products of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens B2SA2 inhibit the biofilm formation of bacterial isolates from oral communities “International Conference on Drug Discovery and Translational Research DDTR-2021”, Pondicherry University, pp-12, February 25 & 26, 2021.
  5. Pooranchandra.G, Anand R, Saravanan P “Stress resistance of biofilm forming bacterial isolates from Human oral cavities” International conference on Environmental, Agricultural, chemical and Biological Sciences ICEACBS 2022, VOICE, In support of UNITED NATIONS -SDGS. January 22,23 & 26, 2022.
  6. Subhashini S, Anand R, Saravanan Periasamy “Isolation and characterization of coaggregation biofilm-forming bacteria from oral cavity”, ICAST, Institute of Innovations, Thiruvannamalai, April 2&3, 2021.
  7. Shanmugasundaram S, Sankari K, Rakshanan KS, Anand R, Meerlakshmi MS and Saravanan Periasamy “Green synthesized silver nanoparticles from bittergourd (Momordicacharantia) exhibits inhibitory activity of bacterial isolates from dental plaques” Web Conference on Biotechnology for a Better Tomorrow, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Virudhunagar June 25,26 & 27, 2020
  8. Meeralakshmi MS, Anand R, Johanna Rajkumar, and Saravanan Periasamy, “Antagonistic interaction of oral biofilm forming bacteria, Boon or Bane to species diversity?”, International Conference on Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, Quaid e Millath Government College,Chennai, pp-18, January 30 & 31, 2020
  9. MS Meeralakshmi, Anand R, and P. Saravanan, “Isolation and Characterization of Biofilm forming Streptococcus Salivarius (M2SA3) Rothiadentocariosa (MDP2) from dental plaque and their interactions, 3RD International Conference – Evidence Based Medicine and clinical Research (EBCOON 2020), SRM Medical college and research centre, Chennai, pp-EBOP12, February 7 & 8, 2020.

Invited talk

  1. Dr. Saravanan.P. Invited as Resource person for the online presentation to the PhD students Organized by Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences,Nazarbayev University Astana, Kazakhstan, 04.11.2020. Title of the Talk “ Oral Biofilms Basics”
  2. Dr. Saravanan P. Invited as Resource person for the Workshop on Anaerobic Microbiology, Organized by Department of Biotechnology, Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore, 28.02.2020 and 29.02.2020, Title of the Talk” Anaerobic Oral Biofilms”
  3. Dr. Saravanan P. Invited as Resource person for the Workshop on Microbial Biofilms Organized by School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA University, Thanjavur, 13.12.2019 and 14.12.2019, Title of the Talk” Biofilm methods and Medical Biofilms”
  4. Dr. Saravanan P. Invited as Resource person for the International Conference workshop on image analysis for the treatment of human infectious disease Organized by Department of Biotechnology, Kumaraguru College of Technology, 10.05.2018 and 11.05.2018, Title of the Talk” Hands on Training on Biofilm Image Analysis”.

List of Projects Guided/Guiding

Projects Guided/ Guiding No. Of Students Details
Ph.D 1 Anand R (FT) Pursuing  
M.Tech 4 Meeralakshmi MS (2018-2020)

Subhashini M (2019-2021)

VihaaShriee MG (2020-2022) Pursuing  

Pooranachandra G (2020-2022) Pursuing  

  

  

B.Tech
3 Shanmugam

Rakshana

Sankari(2016-2020)
1 Sowmya Narayanan (2018-22) Pursuing

List of Bacterial 16SrDNA Sequences published in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), USA.

S.No Accesion Number and Strain Name Date of Publication
1. MN474012Streptococcus salivarius RECBT B4TS2 Periasamy S ,Sumathi A, Rajkumar J and Anirud R. September 18, 2019
2. MN538249Rothiamucilagionosa RECBT B5SA5

Reshabb A, Saravanan P Anand Rand Meeralakshmi MS.
October 05, 2019
3. MN538250Bacillus amyloliquefaciens RECBT B2SA2 Anand A, Saravanan P and Reshabb A. October 05, 2019
4. MN602475Aneurinibacillusaneurinilyticus RECBT B1DP1 Saravanan P, Reshabb A, Anand R and Meeralakshmi MS. October 24, 2019
5. MN832990Rothiadentocariosa RECBT MDP2 Meeralakshmi MS, Saravanan,P. and Anand R. December 17, 2019
6. MN832993Streptococcus salivarius RECBT M2SA1 Meeralakshmi MS, Saravanan P and Anand S. December 17, 2019
7. MN039523 Tsukamurellapaurometabola RECBT M2SA4 Meeralakshmi MS, Anand R, Saravanan P and Ayyadurai N. February 11, 2020
8. MT039533Bacillusflexus RECBT SW4
Rakshana KS, Sankari K, Shanmugasundaram K , Meeralakshmi MS, Anand R and Saravanan P.
February 11, 2020
9. MT039534 Staphylococcus pasteuri RECBT B1SA1
Sankari K, Rakshana KS, Shanmugasundaram R , Anand R, Meeralakshmi MS, Saravanan Pand Ayyadurai N.
February 11, 2020
10. MW332548Pseudomonas aeruginosa RECBT B3DPE3 Anand R, Periasamy S,Shanmugasundaram R, Sankari K and Rakshana K. December 07, 2021
11. MT039531Enterobacter cloaceae RECBT E1 Shanmugasundaram R, Rakshana KS, Sankari K, Saravanan P, Anand S and Meeralakshmi MS. February 11, 2020
12. MW774348Streptococcus salivariusRECBT AS2

Subhashini S, Anand R, Poornachandra G, Vihasriee G, Periasamy  S.
March 19, 2021
13. MW774351Staphylococcus arlettae RECBT S4 Subhashini S, Anand R, Poornachandra G, Vihasriee G, Periasmy S. March 19, 2021
14, MZ824593 Streptococcus salivarius RECBT SW3

Anand R, Shanmugam S, Sankari K, Periasamy S.
August 18, 2021
15 OL589537 Streptococcus cristatus RECBT M2SA1

Anand R, Meeralakshmi MS, Periasamy S.
October 22 2021
16. OL589516 Bacillus antracis N2W

Vihasriee, Poornachandra, Anand R, Periasamy S.
November 27 2021
17 OL589517 Exiguobacterium mexicanum NI5

Vihasriee, Poornachandra, Anand R, Periasamy S.
November 27 2021
18 OL589518 Micrococcus leutus N2S

Vihasriee, Poornachandra, Anand R, PeriasamyS.
November 27 2021
19. OM491189 Streptococcus lutetiensis OS7
Pooranachandra G, Vihaasriee MG, Anand R, PeriasamyS.
February 8 2022
20. OM491190 Staphylococcus epidermidis OS8

Pooranachandra G, Vihaasriee MG, Anand R, Periasamy S.
February 8 2022
21. OM491191 Limosilactobacillus fermentum OS9

Pooranachandra G, Vihaasriee MG, Anand R, PeriasamyS.
February 8 2022

List of Bacterial cultures deposited and their accession numbers

S.No Strain Name Culture collection Accession Number Date of Deposit
1. Bacillus amyloliquefaciensRECBT B2SA2 NCCS MCC 4424 October 10, 2020
2. Streptococcus salivariusRECBT B4TS2 MTCC 13009 March 18, 2020
3. RothiadentocariosaRECBT MDP2 MTCC 13010 March 18, 2020
4. Aneurinibacillusaneurinilyticus RECBT B1DP1 MTCC 13008 March 18, 2020
5. Enterobacter cloaceaeRECBT E1 MTCC 13075 April 12, 2021
6. Staphylococcus pasteuriRECBT B1SA1 MTCC 13076 April 12, 2021
7. Pseudomonas aeruginosaRECBT B3DPE3 MTCC 13077 April 12, 2021
8. Tsukamurellapaurometabola RECBT M2SA4 MTCC 13078 April 12, 2021

Courses in curriculum: Related to Biofilms Biology

S.no. Course name
1 Microbiology
2 Biochemistry
3 Cell Biology
4 Molecular Biology  
5 Immunology
6 Advanced Genetic Engineering
7 Advances in Molecular Pathogenesis  
8 Preparative and Analytical Techniques in Biotechnology
9 Bio-separation technology
10 Advanced Genomics and proteomics

MoU’s Signed:NIL

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