Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Applications

1. Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Applications ANNA UNIVERSITY CHENNAI

2. Formation of the Centre • Appointment of Prof. K. Sankaran, as Coordinator and Prof. N. Selvakumar as Co-Coordinator (previously both were Co-coordinators in the proposal) . Prof. P. Kaliraj, former Coordinator of the proposal has been designated as Mentor. • Opening of Bank Account in State Bank of India in the name of “MHRD-CEMA” and transfer of Rs. 1 Crore fund received from MHRD to the new account. • Constitution of the Advisory Committee and convening of the first Advisory Committee Meeting on 26th Dec 2013. • MoU between Anna University and MHRD has been signed on 26th Feb 2014 and received on 10th March 2014 • Syndicate approved the MoU and the formalities for the formation of the autonomous Centre has been completed

3. TEAM MEMBERS • Centre for Biotechnology • Prof. P. Kaliraj - Mentor • Prof. K. Sankaran - Coordinator • Prof. S. Meenakshisundaram • Dr. S. Ramalingam • Dr. S. Anuradha • Textile Technology • Prof. N. Selvakumar – Co-Coordinator • Dr. S. Subramanian • Dr. V. R. Giridev • Dr. R. Neelakandan

4. OBJECTIVES • Establishment of advanced training for Human Resource Development in the area of center of excellence • Establishment of globally competitive advanced research • Establishment of a model facility for advanced bioprocess for medical applications and training • Establishment of advanced facility for Tissue engineering for medical applications and training

5. Research • Protein Engineering: Bacterial lipid modification • Engineering host strains by gene knock-in and knock-out to over-express recombinant proteins • A model facility for advanced bioprocess • Tissue engineering using Stem Cell Technology • Designing of scaffolds for tissue engineering applications • Development of medical masks / respirator • Development of composites for biomedical applications • Development of conductive textiles for biosensors

6. TRAINING • Cloning and expression of commercial proteins in respective hosts • Large-scale production of targets for medical application • Downstream processing of recombinant proteins • Good manufacturing practice in therapeutic proteins and vaccines • Engineering Proteins for large-scale production • Engineering Proteins for medical applications • Metabolic engineering for production • Tissue engineering using biodegradable biomaterials utilizing stem cell technology • Instrumental methods of evaluation of biomaterials • Electro spinning of biopolymers • Medical textiles

7. Identification of space for MHRD-CoE • Vice-Chancellor Prof.M. Rajaram, Anna University, in the presence of Guest-of-Honour, Dr. P. M. Murali, President, ABLE, Inaugurated Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Applications (CEMA) on 27.05.2015 at the Third floor of the Centre for Food Technology building, Anna University, Taramani Campus.

9. UNIVERSITY SUPPORT FOR RECURRING EXPENDITURE AND MHRD-COE ACTIVITIES • As the first sanction from MHRD was for non-recurring items only, the Anna University has supported for recurring expenses. With respect to this, Ms. Shabrien was appointed on 08.12.2014 as Project Associate to carry out the day-to-day running of the projects and training of the Centre. Also the university agreed to continue the Project Associate for CEMA activities. • Rs.10 Lakhs was provided by the University to fund the recurring cost of CEMA. The fund was sanctioned during 2014-15 and balance at the end of the year was re-appropriated for the financial year 2015-16.

10. ADVANCED RESEARCH IN THE AREAS OF COE • Protein Engineering: Bacterial lipid modification. – Dr. K. Sankaran • Engineering Host strains / vectors for improved productivity – Dr. S. Meenakshisundaram & Dr. S. Ramalingam • Tissue engineering – Dr. C. D. Anuradha & Dr. V. R. Giridev • Development of medical masks/respirators – Dr. N. Selvakumar, Dr. S. Subramanian, Dr. R. Neelakandan List of Publications by the Investigators - 25

11. Protein Engineering: Bacterial lipid modification. – Dr. K. Sankaran Potential Applications

12. Engineering Host strains / vectors for improved productivity – Dr. S. Meenakshisundaram & Dr. S. Ramalingam

13. Secretion efficiency of nsB signal peptide on different recombinant proteins CAL B Protein CAL A Protein GMCSF Protein • New nsB (Native CALB) signal sequence for secretion of recombinant proteins in P.pastoris have been identified as an alternative to widely used alpha signal sequence.

14. Impact of Molecular Chaperones on Recombiant protein production in P.pastoris Pichiapastoris has emerged as a highly productive protein expression system with many successful commercial applications Created platform of vectors harbouring various chaperone genes which can be readily integrated to P. pastoris strain for overexpression of heterologous protein.

15. Process for S-Adenosyl L Methionine

16. Reduction in cofactor perturbation by NADH oxidase improved recombinant CALB expression in Pichia pastoris - Microarray analysis

17. Assessing the metabolic impact of heterologous alcohol dehydrogenase in Lactobacillus reuteri for enhanced 1, 3-Propanediol synthesis. Investigator: Dr.S.Ramalingam • yqhD expression effects in redox imbalance paved significant changes in absolute fluxes as well as flux re-distribution in central carbon pathways. 1,3-propanediol formation is constrained by cofactor (NADH) rather than enzyme (1,3 PDOR) in the native strain. In future, manipulation of such regulators could pave the way for achieving significant product titers in Lactobacillus reuteri.

19. Electrospinning with herbal extracts Aloevera Incorporated matrices Siddha Drug Incorporated matrices PCL/ PVP matrices loaded with Mattanthailam Excellent antimicrobial activity – S. aureus, E.Coli, K.Pneumonia Aloevera – 5,10, 15% w/w doped in PCL polymer Excellent Cell Adhesion observed - Hydrophilicity

20. Particulate Filtration and Silk tissue Engineering Silk – good for wound healing confirmed by Animal Study 100 % Silk Fibroin from Eri Silk produced. Aerosol particle counter - Scaled up for study at Ennore Thermal power station (ETPS) and the respirators for the thermal power station is being designed

21. WORKSHOP/ CONFERENCE/ SEMINARS CONDUCTED • Centre for Biotechnology and Department of Textile Technology, Anna University jointly organized a two day workshop entitled “Advance Biomaterials in Tissue Engineering” in association with MHRD-CEMA as part of AVIDADTHAM ’15, an International Conference on Contemporary Research Trends in Diagnostics and Therapeutics between February 16TH -18TH ,2015. PG and Ph.D. scholars benefited from the hands on training in advance biomaterials in tissue engineering. • Two Workshop on Bioentrepreneurship and IPR was conducted by investigators along with BIRAC and UIC

23. WORKSHOP CONDUCTED • A three day workshop on “IPR issues pertaining to manufacturing for patented and public domain knowledge & Entrepreneurship” was conducted between 6th and 8th June, 2016 in association with University Innovation Cluster and BIRAC. Around 65 participants from Life science and allied disciplines attended the workshop. • One week workshop on “Recombinant protein overexpression – Molecular and Bioprocess challenges” held between 12th and 17th September, 2016 at the Advanced CEMA training centre. Around 12 participants from Life science and allied disciplines had hands on training on molecular biology and bioprocess techniques. • UGC –DRS and MHRD- CEMA TEXTILE WORKSHOP on MEDICAL TEXTILES, March 14th to 20th, 2016.

24. INAUGURATION PRESENTATION BY MR JATIN VIMAL, ENTREPRENEUR PRESENTATIONBY PARTICIPANTS ON CASESTUDY

26. ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT • Among the 26 University proposals for University Innovation Cluster invited by BIRAC, the Centre proposed, based on the strength of the programme in Advanced Training and Research, establishment of Centre of Innovation Cluster in Biotechnology. Five proposals were chosen for this exclusive entrepreneurship programme and got funded to the tune of Rs. 230 Lakhs for four years for Anna University. It will be supplementary as well as complementary to the above objective of MHRD Centre of Excellence. The UIC was also inaugurated along with MHRD CEMA and it is in the same floor of the building. UIC FELLOWS LABORATORY

27. As an important and integral part of development of Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Applications, we have overlapped it with another major BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, DBT, GoI) entrepreneurship initiative, University Innovation Cluster – Biotechnology established in Anna University for synergy in Human Resource Development in advanced skills required for futuristic biomedical applications, especially involving bioprocess technology, biosensor development, biomedical textiles, cell culture, tissue engineering etc. This supplementary as well as complementary arrangement for achieving the above objective of CEMA is also facilitated by their proximity in the same floor of the building for easy sharing of resources. Already one Entrepreneurship Research Fellow started working in the area of Biomedical applications (Bioprocess Production of Biopolymer from marine sources and creating scaffolds using Electro spinning method for testing in wound dressing application). Such joint developments will be mutually beneficial for all the stakeholders and pave way for the maximum utilization of resources for the development.

28. FUND RELEASED by MHRD

30. EQUIPMENT PURCHASE STATUS

31. EXPENDITURE DETAILS

32. WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCE IN THE NEXT ONE YEAR Upcoming Training Courses • One week workshop on “Downstream Processing of Recombinant Proteins” (March 2016) 3-Day Workshops • Cell culture techniques and applications in drug screening (Jan/Feb 2016) 1-Day Conferences and Seminars • Stem Cell Technology Today (NOV 2016) • Synthetic Biology (Dec 2016) • Omics Technologies in Biomedical Applications (Feb 2016) • Designing and characterization scaffolds (March 2016) • Evaluation of antimicrobial characteristics of textile substrates (Dec2016).

33. BUDGET (2016-17, 2017-18)

34. Industrial collaboration and sustainability plan • Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Applications at Anna University is being established as an autonomous entity with its own Coordinator, Co-Coordinator and administrative office and laboratories (see inauguration pictures) for high-end research in developing futuristic indigenous processes and products in the field of Biomedical applications using the long product-development experience and expertise of Departments of Biotechnology and Textile Technology. • After the full utilization of the fist-year and a large part of the second year fund in augmenting our modern equipment infrastructure suitable for the high-end research, the remaining 2-year grant will be utilized to create dedicated manpower with non-recurring grant and working conditions for product realization from the high-end research. • Since the departments are already associated with industries and successfully technology transferring products, industrial association either after filing for IPR or during development will be readily facilitated by the University, which is well equipped for such association with Centre for IPR and Centre for Technology Development and Transfer.

35. CEMA is working with University Innovation cluster supported by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for augmenting the entrepreneurship development. The synergy of outcome from CEMA and entrepreneur fellowship offered by BIRAC up to 3 years is an attractive proposition for researchers to become entrepreneurs to set-up startups or integrated with industries. The Centre will also get innovation grants from government/private to commercialize products developed. • With interest to build trained and industry-ready human resource in the field of Biomedical applications, we are establishing a state-of-the-art Training Centre to conduct thematic hands-on training programs for young researchers and industrial professionals. Also we propose to conduct one long-term certification program (6 months) for postgraduate students as finishing school. By this program the PG students will be employable in research-oriented Biotech industry. A sizable grant of the 3rd and 4th year will be utilized for this. • India is having second largest US-FDA approved pharma/biotech manufacturing facilities next to USA. Hence the concept of Good Manufacturing Practice in industries is vital and quality concepts have to be built in the system. As of now there is no regular systematic training program in the country on these aspects involving industry personnel. Our centre will establish this training program involving Pharma and Biotech industries. • Centre will encourage industrial consultancy program in the field of Biomedical applications.

36. Summary • The Centre has been established with the full support of the University with the allocation of exclusive space along with basic laboratory infrastructure in Centre for Biotechnology and Department of Textile Technology. • Instruments, as approved by the First Advisory Committee, have been purchased and the purchase of equipment, as advised in the second advisory committee for the second installment, has been committed. • An exclusive hands-on training facility with the emphasis of industrial orientation and entrepreneurship is operational. A series of workshops and seminars on the latest developments in the area of CoE have been approved by the Advisory Committee and five workshops have been conducted. • Project manpower granted in the 2nd installment has been recruited and research is in full swing. • Synergy between this programme and University Innovation Cluster in Biotechnology has been established to develop entrepreneurs in biomedical application area at PG and post-Ph.D. levels. • Advanced research on the topics committed in the proposal is going on by utilizing the resources from other on-going programmes also. The good progress in the lines of expected outcome has the potential to be converted to futuristic products for biomedical applications.