We have recently formed our lab at IISER Bhopal, and we primarily focus on Metagenomics, Systems biology and Computational biology.
Why Metagenomics is important?
Metagenomics can be defined as "Culture-independent cloning and analysis of microbial DNA extracted directly from an environmental sample". Since almost >98% microbes cannot be cultured, and most microbial species live in mixed, complex environments.
Therefore, instead of sequencing one genome at a time, all microbes (microbiome) present in an environment are sequenced, at the same time. It is significant for understanding the microbial interactions in a community which is fundamental for Systems Biology. There are several applications of Metagenomics, such as,
i. Environmental studies
ii. Human health
iii. Identification of novel microbes, genes, pathways and mechanisms of survival
iv. Biodegradation: sewage, ocean pollutants, plastics, garbage, etc.
v. Energy generation and bio-fuels
vi. Biotechnological and Industrial implementations
Current research interests
1. Metagenomic analysis of various environments such as human gut, soil, sediment etc.
2. Complete genome sequencing and analysis of novel bacteria.
3. Development of computational tools for metagenomic and genomic data analysis.
4. Comparative analysis of repetitive sequences in newly sequenced genomes.
5. Human genome analysis.
Past projects
Genomics Analysis of Novel Organisms
Prokaryotes (Termite Gut Bacteria): Genome Sequencing, Analysis and annotation of two bacterial genomes from Termite gut with the aim to identify novel enzymes significant for its survival or for bio-fuel production.
Metagenomic analysis of human gut microbiome
Using fecal samples from 13 healthy individuals of various ages, including unweaned infants, to identify the genomic features common to all human gut microbiomes as well as those variable among them.
Software/Web Server/Knowledge-base development
MetaBioME (Comprehensive Metagenomic BioMining Engine): Identify novel commercially useful enzymes (biocatalysts) employed in Industry, Medicine, Agriculture, Biotechnology, Environment, etc., from metagenomic datasets.
MetaBin: Fast and accurate taxonomic assignments of metagenomic sequences using MetaBin.
EXPOLDB (Expression Linked Polymorphism Database): A useful resource to link gene expression data from human Gene Chip experiments with the distribution of (TG/CA)n and other repeats within genes.
ArrayD: Software for designing cDNA microarrays.
Human Genome Analysis
Genome wide analysis of repetitive sequences in human and other primate genomes.
Identification and analysis of novel conjoined genes in human and other genomes.
Assessing natural variation in humans by comparing with monozygotic twins using microarrays.