I am the Vice Chancellor of IIT Mumbai. I got information the Department of Bioinformatics need some more Infrastructure facilities. So I want list of Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facilities which are available there and required facilities that I can provide to the department as soon as possible. How many faculty members at there in that Department of IIT Mumbai?

Research activities in the Department of Biotechnology are wide-ranging, reflecting the diversity of modern biotechnology.

The research activities of faculty members are well funded through extra-mural research funding from government agencies such as CSIR, DAE, DBT, DST, etc.

The Department provides an ideal milieu for inter-disciplinary and collaborative research.

Funding received from the DBT includes a Program support grant to establish a state-of-the-art research facility in Cancer Biology and for setting up of a Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility.

The Department has also received funding from DST to set up the National Imaging Facility, which will house Laser Real Time Confocal Microscope and Atomic Force Microscope.

Several collaborative and technology transfer projects are currently running with numerous industries such as Reliance Life Science Pvt. Limited, Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Reddys Laboratories, Shantha Biotech and Nagarjuna Chemicals and Fertilizers, to name a few.

The department also has collaborative research projects with hospitals such as Apollo, Dr. Mohans Diabetes Specialty Center, Madras Medical Mission, and Frontier Life line.

The research interests in the department can be organized into four major thrust areas

Bioprocess Engineering
Chemical Biology
Computational Biology
Medical Biotechnology

Bioprocess Engineering

Applied Microbiology and Industrial Biotechnology
o Development of microbial strains and processes for the production of commercially important biologicals
o Microbial interactions involving biofilm formation, degradation of polymers and detoxification of heavy metals in water
Cellular Engineering for Enhanced Bioprocess Productivity
o Investigation of microbial physiology and bioprocess productivity under stress
o Engineering and analysis of metabolic networks
o Analysis of genetic networks
Bioreaction Engineering
o Bioreactor modelling and simulation
o Bioreactor state estimation and control
o Development of bioreactor strategies and scale-up
o Photo-bioreactor for algal biomass cultivation

Chemical Biology

Bioorganic Chemistry
o Biocatalytic preparation of enantiomerically pure active pharmaceutical ingredients
o Green chemistry: employing enzymes in organic transformations
o Development of novel biosensors
Biomaterials
o Surface modification of polymers for biomedical applications.
o Polymer therapeutics for infectious diseases
o In-situ forming hydrogels for wound dressings
siRNAs delivery and chemical genetics
o Conferring drug like properties on siRNAs through conjugating peptide mini vectors
o Diversity oriented synthesis of marine natural products
Drug Design
o Design and synthesis of novel non-hydroxamic acid HDAC inhibitors
o Synthesis of chalcones and pyrozolines for novel antibacterials
o Synergy between Antibiotics eugenol combination
Molecular enzymology
o Structure and function studies of hydrolases of industrial importance

Computational Biology

Molecular computation
o Structural bioinformatics of enzymes
o Comparative genomics of G-protein coupled receptors
o Molecular modelling of enzyme-substrate / enzyme-inhibitor interactions
o Generalization of phenomenology of Protein folding and unfolding
o Computational biophysics and green chemistry
o Systems biology
o Statistical physics of biological systems
o Structure-based drug discovery
o Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships (QSAR)
Computational Neuroscience
o Modelling Basal Ganglia and Parkinsons decease
o Computational Cardiology: Networks, Adaptation, Oscillations in Cardiovascular System

Medical Biotechnology

Cancer biology
o Understanding of SMAD independent signal transduction pathway in human cancer
o Role of select Micro-RNAs in cervical cancer
o Designing potentialy novel inhibitors as anti-cancer drugs
o Understanding the role of GTPases in ribosome biogenesis in relation to cancer
o Signalling mechanisms in cancer cells
Cardiovascular genetics
o Identification and characterization of candidate genes and genotypes underlying pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases.
Vascular biology
o Immuno therapeutic Neovascularization
o Endothelial Dysfunction
o Endothelial Barrier Function
o Atherosclerosis
Molecular virology
o Mechanism of HIV Pre-Integration Complex (PIC) nuclear import
o Signals in PICs that regulate its nuclear import
o Role of MAPK/ERK-2 on HIV pathogenesis
o Developing rapid assay for diagnosis of nascent HIV infections
Stem cells proliferation
o Role of Hematopoietic permissive and inductive microenvironment in bone marrow in context to proliferation of stem cells
o Role of osteoblast in the proliferation of stem cell
Signal Transduction and Protein Structure-Function
o Mechanism of signal transduction by novel GPCRs.
o Studying signal transduction by understanding protein-protein interaction.
o Calcium binding proteins and role in signal transduction
o Congenital Heart defects
Ion channels: Structure and function
o Probing the structural and functional domains of the acid sensing ion channel
o Role of gap junctions in Ischemic heart disease
Biomedical Engineering Biomechanics / Ergonomics
o Biomechanical modelling
o Bone re-modelling
o Occupational biomechanics (Sports, Army)
o Human system interface

Major Facilities for Research

The department has modern cutting edge facility for biotechnology research. Some of the major equipments include:

Fourier Transform Infrared Analyser
Fluorescent Microscope
HPLC (High Pressure Liquid Chromatography)
FPLC (Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography)
Gas Chromatograph
Micro plate Spectrophotometers
UV - Visible Spectrophotometers
Bioreactors
Gas Analyser
Lyophilizer
Gel Documentation System
High speed and Ultra Centrifuges
Atomic Force Microscope
Cell Counters
Real-time PCR
Electric Cell Impedance System (ECIS)
Live Cell Imaging
Freezers, Cold rooms

The Centralized Departmental facilities include:

Tissue Culture Labs
Patch Clamp facility
Tissue Processing Lab
Auto radiographic facility
Dark Room
Fly Lab
Department Computational Facility
Autoclave Facility
Confocal Live Cell Imaging Facility
National Centre for Cellular Dynamics
Cancer Biology Facility
Biosafety Level 2 Facility
Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility
Millipore Water Purification Facility

Contact-

Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Beside Adyar Cancer Institute, Opposite to C.L.R.I, Sardar Patel Road, Adyar, Indian Institute Of Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600036