WELCOME TO CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN BIOINFORMATICS

The centre at Madurai Kamaraj University(MKU) was started in 1986 as a Distributed Information Centre(DIC) under the aegis of Biotechnology Information Systems network(BTISnet) of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. At the initial stage, the centre had minimal facility and in due course, it had gradually built up its infrastructure facility and manpower development. DBT has elevated the centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics in 2003.

The centre established its National High Resolution Graphics (NHRG) Facility in 1996. The faculty along with the technical staff at the centre constantly upgrades the NHRG facilities. This provides valuable opportunity for the users for carrying out computational work in the field of genomics, proteomics and structural bioinformatics. In 1996, the teaching course on Advance Diploma in bioinformatics was initiated by the faculty at the centre. The aim of this course to teach and train students of various disciplines to acquire the basic and advance knowledge in Bioinformatics.

Since the majority of students who completed the course invariably went for higher studies, the course was modified accordingly to be a post graduate MSc Computational Biology network programme involving Madurai Kamaraj University, Anna University and Pondicherry University. The area of specialization of the centre is focused on Structural Bioinformatics and Genetic Engineering. The main activity of the centre, in addition to the teaching programme focuses on research and providing services in the major thrust areas such as structural bioinformatics, proteomics, creation of databases, data mining, molecular modeling dynamics and computer aided drug design.

Also, the centre is highly accessible to teachers and researchers in the region. The faculty at the centre together with the faculty of School of Bioteachnology performs collaborative research work and teaching as well. The centre has played an important role in the growth of Bioinformatics in this region and has also contributed significantly to the manpower development.

List of Servers and Databases

DBT sponsored Network program

M.Sc Computational Biology
with Anna University and Pondicherry University

Computational Biology is a multidisciplinary area that involves application of computer science, mathematics and statistics to biological problems. It is related for example to computational and mathematical modelling of biological systems, bioinformatics, systems biology, compost, computational genomics and proteomics. The Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India has initiated a network programme on M.Sc Computational Biology to meet the demand for trained manpower which is essential for such activities related to bioinformatics in the country. This programme is designed to expose the students to recent exciting developments in this area using the expertise available in different institutions.

Students with a Life Sciences, Physical and Mathematical Sciences background will be trained to cater to the Research & Development needs of the Universities, Research Institutions and Industry.

Prof.K.Dharmalingam

Senior Professor

Research Interest

Molecular analysis of genetic instability in Streptomyces.
Genetic manipulation antibiotic biosynthetic genes of Streptomyces.
Immunology of leprosy
Scaled up production of Doxorubicin.
Cloning and characterization of doxorubicin biosynthetic pathway genes & isolation of stable mutants of S.peucetius.
Studies on chitinolytic enzymes of antibiotic producing Streptomyces.
Genome analysis of M.leprae and immunology of leprosy.

Prof. S. Krishnasamy

Co ordinator

Research Interest

Structural analysis of Outer membrane protein OmpC from Salmonella typhi and E. coli
Understanding structural interaction of S.typhi OmpC with the antibodies specific to OmpC.
Obtaining High resolution X-ray diffraction crystals of porin-lactoferrin complex
Database creation of beta barrel membrane proteins, prophage proteins and HNH domain Proteins
Purification of prophage encoded proteins
Structural modeling and understanding of the role of myocilin in causing Juvenile Open Angle Glaucoma
Computational analysis of genomes
Simulation of OmpR-Envz two component regulatory system from E .coli

Dr. R. Sankaranarayanan

Reader

Research Interest

Tuberculosis (TB) is a highly contagious and a chronic respiratory disease caused by the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Although there are cock-tails of drugs currently available to cure this disease, the poor compliance of use of these drugs has given rise to a multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and an extensively drug resistant TB (XDR-TB). These forms of TB are virtually incurable. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) there were about 9.1 million new cases of TB and 1.4 million people died from this disease in 2007 alone. Among them 110,000 deaths were due to MDR-TB. TB is also a leading killer among HIV infected people. These alarming statistics necessitate the urgent need for the development of new antibiotic drugs to cure this disease. We are interested in structure elucidation of some functionally important proteins from Mtb. My lab uses X-ray crystallographic technique to accomplish this task. We are focusing on identifying and developing competitive inhibitors for Mtb proteins based on their crystal structures. We also carry out molecular modeling/docking studies to augment the research in this bacterium

Dr.S.Thiyagarajan

Assistant Professor

Research Interest

Ability of pathogenic bacteria in surviving and successfully colonizing a host depends critically on its ability to monitor and adapt to the changes in the environmental conditions. Unfavorable environmental conditions, termed as stress, are of different types viz physical, chemical etc. These include presence of toxic substances, lack of essential substances or both, extreme temperatures, harmful radiations etc. All bacterial systems have evolved their own resistance mechanisms to defend against such environmental stress. Research in my lab is primarily focused on identification of key pathways that support the survival of the infectious agents under environmental stress. We use contemporary techniques like x-ray crystallography, computational biology and standard biochemical techniques to locate stress responsive operons in various species, the way the stress is sensed and regulated. ArsR, an arsenic responsive DNA binding repressor from species living in highly arsenic contaminated zones; Rex, a redox sensing repressor from microbes living in varied aerobic conditions are some of the proteins currently under study.

Dr. K. Kanagarajadurai

Assistanat Professor

Research Interest

Molecular Modelling and Docking

Prediction and molecular modeling of 3D structure of a protein drug target from its sequence
Docking of ligand molecule to its receptor molecule and Identification of hostspots for ligand binding

Comparative genome sequence analysis

It is highly interesting to study the relationship of genome structure and function between two organisms that may give meaningful information about the function and evolutionary processes that act on genomes. The purpose is to gain a better understanding of how species have evolved and to determine the function of genes

Pharmacogenomics

Pharmacogenetics deals with inherited differences in the response to drugs. Pharmacogenomics is the whole genome application of pharmacogenetics, which examines the single gene interactions with drugs. Hence, pharmacogenomics aims to develop rational means to optimize drug therapy, with respect to the patients' genotype, to ensure maximum efficacy with minimal adverse effects. Such approaches promise the advent of "personalized medicine"; in which drugs and drug combinations are optimized for each individual's unique genetic makeup

Broyeur de branchages
Broyeur compostage et paillage