Ongoing Projects

Metatranscriptomics driven isolation of Tea root associated bacteria and their evaluation for drought tolerance properties.

March 21, 2017

| Microbes

| Sustainable Agriculture

Plant root microbiome plays the key role in plant health maintenance during conducive as well as a stressed situation and their population dynamics (culturable and non-culturable) varies with the surrounding environment. Therefore, culturable microbial strains associated with drought tolerant plants are explored and mobilized as input to sustain other plant growth during drought situation. However, the non-culturable microbes that represent substantial proportions of total microbiome are not explored yet for their beneficial role during stress condition.

Ethnobotanical survey for antiulcer drug

February 13, 2017

| Environment

| Microbes

| Sustainable Agriculture

This project will select the medicinal plants of traditional use on ethno-botanical survey of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh for their biological screening of anti-ulcer activity in experimental animals. This will help find possible anti-ulcer drugs from the indigenous medicinal plants of Northeast.

Enzymatic degradation of antibiotics and phenolic residues waste components at low concentration in surface waters and industrial wastewater using modified membrane bioreactor

December 21, 2016

| Microbes

| Environment

The rampant usage of drugs has made their occurrence in soil, water, aquatic plants and almost whole of the world acknowledged their presence in natural and artificial systems. Municipal and industrial wastewater contains high amounts of antibiotics or other persistent molecule conjugates and metabolites, which possess high biological activity and threat to the environment and to the living organisms. A main goal of this joint bilateral project is to develop the process for the removal of antibiotics and phenolic residues from the water and wastewater.

Establishment of food testing laboratory in Assam

September 20, 2016

| Microbes

The objectives are to: (i) analyze the samples from licensed food business operators and other stakeholders; (ii) reduce the transportation time of food samples; (iii) ensure compliance of domestic/international safety standards on food produced and consumed in the region; (iv) assist the authority establish during surveillance for monitoring food safety; (v) promote entrepreneurship in food processing sector; (vi) awareness generation and capacity building.

Hotwiring microbial communities for enhanced unconventional gas production

July 10, 2016

| Microbes

| Environment

In this project our objective is to exploit recent discoveries in direct electron transfer to methanogenic Archaea and the role of thermophilic temperatures on biological methane production from coal to enhance production rates and yield. The significance of direct electron transfer to methanogenic microbes lies in the departure from a longstanding (>60yo) dogma that molecular hydrogen (or formate) has to serve as an intermediate electron carrier from fermentative metabolism to methanogenic metabolism.

Construction and application of recombinant strain of Bacillus subtilis for production of alkaline-protease

May 23, 2016

| Microbes

| Environment

Protease enzymes are biocatalyst that has long been used as alternative to chemical reactions to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of a wide range of industrial systems and bioprocesses. They are currently applied in both basic and applied arenas of research as well as in a wide range of product design and manufacturing processes e.g. those pertaining to the food, detergent, beverage, leather processing, waste water treatment, and in pharmaceutical industries.

Bio-toilets in schools of the North-eastern States of India for hygiene and technology dissemination

April 1, 2016

| Microbes

The main objectives to be achieved from the project are given below: Operationalization of toilets; Demonstration of anaerobic digester for biogas generation and its utilization; Feasibility for utilization of biogas as clean energy in cooking of midday meal in schools; Promoting behavioural change among school children and teach them to be hygienic. Dissemination of bio-toilets in the DNA club schools by TERINE.

Microbes to Industrial Solutions: Fermentation Technology Research Centre

January 1, 2010

| Microbes

The Bioremediation and Microbial Biotechnology Area at TERI advances science-driven solutions tailored to the oil and gas sector, waste valorization, and emerging clean energy systems. Research in this domain focuses on the remediation of oil-contaminated sites, produced water, PCBs, microplastics, and other persistent pollutants through customized microbial consortia and nature-based approaches. These interventions support regulatory compliance, enhance the environmental performance of hydrocarbon operations, and contribute to long-term ecosystem restoration.