TISSUE CULTURE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY |
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Profile |
The tissue culture and biotechnology division focuses mainly on rapid tissue culture propagation of important, rare, endangered, threatened and recalcitrant medicinal plants with a view to widen the resource base of medicinal plants to the Ayurvedic industry. The division also aims at domestication, developing other conventional propagation techniques, developing agro-techniques, popularization of medicinal plants cultivation and also repopulating the forest niches.
Another important goal of the division is to develop an In Vitro Active Gene Bank for Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants for medium term conservation.
The long-term goal of the department is to develop molecular fingerprints of important ayurvedic medicinal plants, developing molecular markers for identification of genuine ayurvedic raw drugs. The division aims at conducting studies on variability in secondary metabolite contents of medicinal plants, their in vitro production and also identification of new compounds.
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Development of micropropagation protocols for important, rare, endangered, threatened and recalcitrant medicinal plants.
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Scaling up of tissue culture protocols and mass propagation of important, rare, endangered medicinal plants with a view to promote their cultivation, conservation and also to repopulate the forest niches
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Developing conventional propagation methods
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Developing agro-techniques for selected medicinal plants
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In vitro conservation of medicinal plant genetic resources
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Possibility of production of secondary metabolites through in vitro system
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Molecular profiling of Ayurvedic medicinal plants
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Developing molecular markers for ayurvedic raw drugs to identify genuine samples.
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List of Published Papers 2003 onwards |
In Journals:
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Published: 03
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In press: 09
In symposium/seminar: 18
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Best poster award in the area of Life Sciences to the paper titled “Micropropagation from juvenile explants of Operculina turpethum – A threatened medicinal plant” in the 18th Kerala Science Congress, held in January 2006 at Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), Thiruvananthapuram
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Dr. Geetha, S. Pillai, Senior Scientist, received Jawaharlal Nehru Award for PG Agricultural Research 2004 in the field of Crop improvement - Germplasm Conservation, from Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, for her thesis.
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Mr. Gerald Martin, Scientist, Received International Plant Genetic Resources (IPGRI) Scholarship– to attend training on “Use of Molecular Markers for characterization of genetic resources’ held at Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
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Scientists: |
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