Profile
India is one of the 12 global mega-biodiversity countries enriched with approximately 8% of the global biodiversity existing in only 2.4% of the land area. Out of the total land area, NER constitutes 7.8% with almost 50% flora and around 200 families of flowering plants. Despite having rich diversity of flora and fauna in the region, due to lack of exploration and documentation there is less report on new findings. So far efforts has been made to document the bioresources available from the secondary sources and attempts are being made to document the bioresoures from the authentic sources. Primary objective of the Institute is to develop and maintain a computerized data base of the bioresources of NE region and build up specialized service in bioinformatics of the institute. Apart from this, several computational based researches is being carried out using bioinformatics tools and developing tools, pipelines specific to the needs. Some of the major works being carried out are based on System biology, Structural biology including docking, MD simulations and NGS based studies like transcriptomics, metagenomics, phylogenetic studies and network pharmacology for synergy program at the Institute.
Current Focus Areas
Inventorization of Medicinal plants of Meghalaya and extraction of essential oil from potential medicinal plants for comparative studies. Under bioinformatics research, In silico studies are being carried out for the role of drug repurposing of phytochemicals for anti-viral properties against COVID-19.
Selected Publications
Chaudhary SK, Kharlyngdoh E, Shukla JK, Bhardwaj PK, Thorat SS, Bhowmick S, Sharma N, Mukherjee PK. Antidiabetic and Antioxidant activities of Indian Bay Leaf (Cinnamomum tamala (Buch.-Ham.) T. Nees & Eberm.) Essential Oils Collected from Meghalaya. (2024). Chem Biodivers.e202400879. doi: 10.1002/cbdv.202400879.
Jitendra Kumar Shukla, Preeti Dhakal, Sandhya Thapa, Evanylla Kharlyngdoh, Sunil S. Thorat, Pardeep K. Bhardwaj, Sushil K. Chaudhary, N. Sathyanarayan, Vinod Singh Gour, Pulok K. Mukherjee. (2023). Growth, yield and metabolite substantiated, eco-physiological evaluation of overcoming accessional and agro-climatic differences in ex-situ raised Valeriana jatamansi Jones. at lower altitude of Sikkim Himalayan region. Indust. Crops.Prod. 207: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2023.117730.
Moirangthem Lakshmipriyari Devi, Sunil S. Thorat, Khomdram Khedashwori Devi, Kongbrailatpam Chandradev Sharma, Yumnam Dhaneshwor Singh, Amrita Mishra, Sudripta Das. (2022). Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) Region of Nuclear Ribosomal DNA as a Suitable DNA Barcode for Identification of Zanthoxylum armatum DC. from Manipur. Mol Biotechnol 64, 1454–1467 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-022-00518-9.
Madhusmita Mahapatra, Bhumika Gurung, Bharat Gopalrao Somkuwar, Sunil S Thorat, Bikash Rai, Pravin Kumar, & Lokesh Deb. (2021). Perspectives of traditional health care system of Sikkim, North-East India – An ethno-pharmacological survey and analysis. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge. 20(4):965-981.
Shantanu Shukla, Khushboo Bafna, Durai Sundar, Sunil S. Thorat. (2015). The Bitter Barricading of Prostaglandin Biosynthesis Pathway: Understanding the Molecular Mechanism of Selective Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibition by Amarogentin, a Secoiridoid Glycoside from Swertia chirayita. PLoS ONE 9(3): e90637. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090637.