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An intriguing paper on “Recent developments and strategies in genome engineering and integrated fermentation approaches for biobutanol production from microalgae” has been published in Fuel by Dr Karthik Rajendran, Department of Environmental Science, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh. Fossil fuels such as petrol, coal, and natural gas deplete natural resources and increase emissions leading to global warming and climate change. As the transportation sector is heavily dependent on liquid fuels and only a few alternatives are available including ethanol, there is an urgent need for higher energy-dense liquid fuel, which is researched across the world, and butanol is considered as an alternative.

There is a constant conflict between food and fuel where the debate lies on whether to swap agricultural lands to produce fuel. An alternative to tackle this problem is identified to be microalgae which is the third-generation feedstock. This feedstock does not conflict with the production of food, as agricultural land is not necessary for its creation. In his work, Dr. Karthik explored different mechanisms for producing butanol from microalgae.

Dr Karthik has been curious on developing industrially feasible solutions for bioenergy, waste management, and sustainability as these industrial solutions are least researched and transferred. This has motivated him to work on economically viable solutions for industries. Dr Karthik explains, “In this work, the mechanisms and fermentation strategies of butanol production from microalgae is explored. Advancing with the research, our team will work on identification of the bottlenecks pertaining to such pathways along with assessing the profitability of producing butanol from microalgae.”

Link to the research paper: Please Click Here

Dr Karthik Rajendran, Department of Environmental Science, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, has published a paper on “Mechanism and challenges behind algae as a wastewater treatment choice for bioenergy production and beyond” in the Fuel journal, which is published by Elsevier. His research work encompasses wastewater treatment using algae for bioenergy production. In his words, “Conventional wastewater treatment systems use activated sludge processes. This process not only uses energy, but also results in emissions. Wastewater contains valuable nutrients and energy recovery options, which are the least explored. Algae helps in reducing emissions by sequestering carbon which leads to negative emissions. The research highlights different mechanisms of using algae for wastewater treatment.”

India as a country is under water-stress and the need for recycling and reusing water is on the rise. The wastewater contains essential nutrients for agriculture and plant growth which are limited resources available to us. Such limitations have inspired efforts to provide solutions to work on algae as a wastewater treatment method. Processes for the same are studied in this paper to comprehend its efficiency and for developing a sustainable choice for the industry. This work will enable the scientists and industrialists to appreciate the usage of algae as an option for wastewater treatment.

Dr Karthik further provides insights on his current research proceedings by saying, “We are currently working on recovering nutrients including phosphorus and nitrogen from wastewater. We are currently performing the theoretical evaluation of the amount of nutrients that can be recovered from different nutrient recovery technologies including microalgae. Such systems not only reduce emissions, but also reduce the amount of virgin materials used.”

Link to the research paper: Please Click Here

Pursuit of discovering new drug molecules to combat diseases

Dr Writoban Basu Ball, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, received an outlay of Rs.26.34 lakhs from DBT, Government of India to pursue research on “Targeting Kennedy pathway of cellular phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthesis as a common therapeutic strategy against protozoan parasites like Leishmania donovani, Trypanosoma brucei and Entamoeba histolytica.” Disease-causing intracellular parasites present serious health challenges, which could be fatal if left untreated. For example, Leishmania donovani and Trypanosoma brucei are the causative agents of visceral leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness, respectively. Entamoeba histolytica causes amoebiasis and 100,000 people die each year world-wide from amoebiasis-related complications. The current treatment regimen against these diseases consists of drugs that possess severe toxicity and drug resistance. Toxicity is detrimental to health and drug-resistance causes unresponsiveness of the drug to the parasite, rendering the drug ineffective. Therefore, it has become imperative to discover new drug molecules to combat these diseases.

In his study, Dr Writoban proposes to repurpose an FDA-approved drug meclizine, which can be used as a potential drug against dreadful parasitic infections. He explains. “One rational way to discover new and effective drugs entails identifying pharmacological targets against unique yet essential parasite metabolic pathways which are either absent or redundant in hosts (in the present case humans). One such central metabolic pathway in L. donovani, T. brucei, and E. histolytica is the Kennedy pathway for the biosynthesis of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), a major lipid molecule of the cell. Without the presence of this lipid molecule, the cellular membranes (plasma membrane, organellar membranes) cannot form. Therefore, the Kennedy pathway is indispensable to parasite survival. On the contrary, in humans, although the Kennedy pathway is present, other pathway of PE biosynthesis is predominant. Hence, the Kennedy pathway offers a potential target to disrupt PE biosynthesis in these parasites without causing any side effects in the human host. In this context, meclizine, an over the counter anti-nausea drug, has been shown to disrupt the Kennedy pathway.”

Dr Writoban’s research is oriented to find safe cures for dreadful parasitic diseases that mostly plagues the underprivileged section of the developing countries like India, and countries of the sub-Saharan Africa. He believes, “The successful implementation of the proposed research scheme would benefit a lot of underprivileged people belonging to the underdeveloped and developing countries, as well as reduce the disease burden of those countries.” Further, Dr Writoban emphasizes, “Getting the grant is only the job half done. I would like to guide this proposal to a fruitful completion so that it can benefit people who need it most. I really want to take this project beyond the bounds of a mere academic exercise.