Department of Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Vision
To contribute to India and the World through excellence in scientific and technical education and research; to serve as a valuable resource for industry and society; and to remain a source of pride for all Indians.

Mission
To generate new knowledge by engaging in cutting-edge research and to promote academic growth by offering state-ofthe-art undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes. To identify based on an informed perception of Indian, regional , and global needs, areas of specialisation upon which the Institute can concentrate. To undertake collaborative projects which offer opportunities for long-term interaction with academia and industry. To develop human potential to its fullest extent so that intellectually capable and imaginatively gifted leaders can emerge in a range of professions.

Values
uAcademic integrity and accountability. uRespect and tolerance for the views of every individual. uAttention to issues of national relevance as well as of global concern. uBreath of understanding, including knowledge of the human sciences. uAppreciation of intellectual excellence and creativity. uAn unfettered spirit of exploration, rationality and enterprise.

We, at the Department of Biochemical Engineering &

Biotechnology, IIT Delhi continuously strive to excel in teaching and research through our endeavours to foster an atmosphere conducive to achieve these goals. Biotechnology has been rightly identified as the technology of this millennium. Recent developments in the field have opened the boundaries to limitless opportunities. From Life Sciences and Chemical Engineering to Computer Sciences, every walk of life has and will continue to be profoundly touched by developments in Biotechnology. Because of its intrinsic nature, Biotechnology will create processes that are eco-friendly and sustainable. Our aim is, therefore, to bring about the development of ecofriendly technologies that create entirely new products and processes besides modifying or replacing the existing ones. Equipped with the integrated expertise to apply both biological and engineering sciences, we also expect to create a class of biochemical engineers and biotechnologists who are capable of solving industrial problems, of continuously updating technology in bioprocess industries, and of developing new products and processes. Our mission is, therefore, to make a quantum jump in the growth of Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology for the welfare of society while safeguarding the environment. March, 2003

The Department
The
Department of Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology at IIT Delhi has a unique place in the development of biochemical engineering discipline in India. The biochemical engineering activities at the Institute began in 1968. An Indo-UK collaboration generously supported the M.Tech. and Ph.D. programmes that were initiated. The Institute took an early note of the significant role that was to be played by biochemical engineers and biotechnologists in future industrial development of biotechnology based processes. In the year 1974, with the help of a large grant received from SFIT-Zurich, an independent Biochemical Engineering Research Centre (BERC) was created. The Centre continued to offer M.Tech. and Ph.D. programmes in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology. The Centre earned international acclaim for intensive research in basic science and engineering problems related to the bioconversion of renewable lignocellulosic residues to liquid and gaseous fuels, organic feedstock, food and feed. Later in 1989, a unique and innovative 5-Year Integrated M.Tech. programme in Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology was initiated in which students who qualified the prestigious Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) of IITs were admitted. Realising the potential of this discipline for future growth of Biochemical Industries, the Centre was converted into a fullfledged Department of Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology in the year 1993. At present, the department runs a 5-year integrated dual-degree programme in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology for students who qualify JEE. During the fifth year of this programme, eligible students receive a stipend from the Institute. The department also runs M.S. (Research) and Ph.D. programmes. Candidates graduating from these programmes constitute valuable human resource for chemical and biochemical industries, for teaching and research in academic institutions and biotechnology industries, and for positions of management of biotechnology within the country. The various academic programmes & the research activities of the department are supported by funding received from different agencies. The department has been successful in raising considerable amount of funding from national and international agencies to support its varied research and teaching programmes. Generous support is also received from government organizations such as the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Science and Technology .

Academic Programmes
The department offers a 5-year integrated dual-degree programme for
students who have passed class XII and qualified JEE. At the end of 5 years the students receive both B. Tech. and M. Tech. degrees in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology. The course curriculum is carefully designed to impart training in Biology courses such as Microbiology, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology; Chemical Engineering courses such as Mass and Energy Balance, Fluid Mechanics, Heat and Mass Transfer Chemical , Reaction Engineering and Process Control; and Biochemical Engineering courses such as Bioprocess Engineering, Bioseparation, Downstream Processing, Enzyme Science and Engineering, and Plant Design. Advanced courses in more specific areas such as Animal Cell Culture, Plant Cell Culture, rDNA Technology and Immunology are also available to the students. In addition to courses in these areas the students supplement their departmental studies with courses in other areas such as Computer Science, Management and Humanities. A great emphasis is laid on laboratory courses, which are offered both at UG and PG levels. The students also have an opportunity to gain experience in research through summer and winter projects. A four-semester M.S.(Research) programme is offered by the department. To enroll in the programme, the students need to qualify the Graduate Apptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and have an outstandig academic record in their B. Tech. programme in Chemical Engineering/ Biochemical Engineering/ Food Technology/ Industrial Biotechnology. This programme has been designed to act as an interface between the Bachelor's programme and Ph.D. Under this programme, a project of 2-3 semester duration is given to the students. There is more emphasis on the research component, which accordingly constitutes a major component of the whole programme. Various fellowships are available for collaborative research with German and Swiss Universities. The department also offers a Ph.D. in various areas of research being pursued by the faculty. A minimum number of courses are offered to students to prepare them to undertake advanced research in various frontier areas in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology. The normal duration of the Ph.D. programme is about 4 years. Students with exceptional academic records can apply to the Ph.D. programme at any time of the year .

Facilities
The department has
infrastructure to support a wide range of research activities. Some of the major equipments of the department are: uBioreactors of different sizes (2 liters to 1000 liters Volume) u Analytical Instruments including centrifuges, electrophoresis (nucleic acids and proteins), Chromatography, HPLC, FPLC, spectrophotometers uPCR machines, nucleic acid sequencing apparatus, gel documentation unit, gel dryer uCulture growth chambers uCulture storage facilities such as deep freezers and lyophilizer uRadioactive laboratory & dark room uNetfinity Server with 50 workstations uELISA reader The facilities of the department are complemented by resources available in other departments of the institute, such as NMR, SEM and ASA. Being a department of IIT Delhi, it is in a unique position to tap the intellectual resources to carry out inter-disciplinary research, such as, Bioinformatics and Environmental Biotechnology.

Research & Consultancy

The research areas being pursued by
the department reflect the expertise of the faculty which ranges from molecular biology through to bioprocess engineering. Many of the research areas are multi disciplinary with input of interr e l a t e d e x p e r t i s e . F u r t h e r, t h e department has been offering the required support to the Biotech industries and research organizations, both in India and abroad. The department therefore undertakes consultancy projects from industries as well as long-term sponsored research projects. Current areas of research in the department can be broadly classified as follows: u Microbial Fermentations u Bio-separation and Downstream Processing u Molecular Biology, Designed Vector Construction, Plasmid Biology u Environmental Biotechnology u Enzyme Engineering and Molecular Enzymology u Animal and Technology Plant Cell Culture

Academic Programmes/ Facilities/ Research & Consultancy Academic Programmes/ Facilities/ Research & Consultancy Academic Programmes/ Facilities/ Research & Consultancy

u Metabolic Engineering u Biosensors and Bioprocess Control u Molecular Machines u Protein Folding Pathways

Sponsored Research & Consultancy Projects

The department has undertaken many sponsored research projects in a range
of areas depending on the expertise of the faculty. The total value of sponsored research projects undertaken by the department in the last five years was more than Rs 5,25,00,000. some of the more recent projects undertaken are: . uAnaerobic digestion of domestic solid wastes (CPCB, Prof. Subhash Chand, Dr. P Vasudevan (RDAT) and Dr. T. R. Sreekrishnan) uBioethanol from alternative feed stocks (DBT, Prof. Subhash Chand) uCloning and characterization of ligninase / laccase genes from white rot fungus (DBT, Prof. S. Mishra) uDevelopment of a biocatalytic process for desulphurisation of diesel (OIDB & CHT, Dr. J.K. Deb and Dr. P. K. Roychoudhury) uDevelopment of non-linear geometric controller for bioprocessing: Application to L-methionine production (DBT, Dr. James Gomes, Prof. V S. Bisaria and Dr. T. R. . Sreekrishnan) uDevelopment of novel reactor for large scale bioconversion of lignocellulosic residues to animal feed (Department of Biotechnology, GOI, Dr James Gomes, . Prof. V S. Bisaria, Dr. T. R. Sreekrishnan) . uEnhancement of urokinase productivity in a hollow fibre bioreactor by nutrient manipulation using cell culture engineering (DBT, Dr. P.K. Roychoudhury and Dr. J. Gomes) , uEnvironmental pollution control using novel high cell density process (DBT Dr. T.R. Sreekrishnan and J. Gomes) uEnzymatically transformed protein binders and thickeners (ICI India, Prof. I. Verma (CPSE), Prof. V Chaudhary (CPSE), Prof. S. Mishra) . uHigh density fermentation of biofertilizers (M/S International Panacea Limited, New Delhi, Prof. V S. Bisaria and Dr. V. Sahai) . uMedia and process optimisation from fermentation of Beauveria (M/S Biotech International Limited, New Delhi, Dr. V. Sahai, Prof. V S. Bisaria and Dr. A. . Srivastava) uMolecular Machines: mechanism and thermodynamics (Swarnajayanti Research Project under Swarnajayanti Fellowship, DST Dr. S. Nath) , uPrebleaching of Kraft pulp by xylanase and ancillary enzymes (DST-TIFAC, Prof. S. Mishra, Prof. V S. Bisaria, Dr. T. R. Sreekrishnan and Dr. V. Sahai) . . uWaste management and efficient treatment in recycling (AICTE, Dr T.R. Sreekrishnan)

Faculty Profile
Professor & Head

Molecular enzymology of hydrolytic enzymes, yeast expression systems

Ms. Saroj Mishra, Ph.D. (City University New York)

Professors

S.N. Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D. (IITD)

Transfer process, microbial reaction kinetics, bioconversion, environmental biotechnology, ecology engineering, process biotechnology

Enzyme technology, biochemical engineering, environmental biotechnology

Subhash Chand, Ph.D. (IITD)

Enzyme and microbial technology, lignocellulose bioconversion, plant cell biotechnology

V.S. Bisaria, Ph.D. (IITD)

Bioprocess engineering, membrane based separation, IMA chromatography

G.P.Agarwal, Ph.D. (Rice University, Houston)

Associate Professors

Ribozyme engineering, biodesulphurization, recombinant therapeutic proteins

J.K. Deb, Ph.D. (BHU)

Instrumentation and control, online analysis, scale-up of bioprocesses

Vikram Sahai, Ph.D.(IITD)

Associate Professors

P.K. Roychoudhury, Ph.D. (IITD)

Biochemical engineering and cell culture engineering

Sunil Nath, Dr. Ing. (Braunschweig University)

Bioseparation, biothermodynamics, bioenergetics & molecular machines

Modelling, simulation and optimization of bioprocesses, plant cell biotechnology

A.K. Srivastava, Ph.D. (McGill)

Biochemical engineering and environmental biotechnology

T.R. Sreekrishnan, Ph.D. (IITD)

James Gomes, Ph.D. (Tulane University)

Nonlinear control, ANN, solid-state bioconversion, L-methionine production

Assistant Professors

Enzyme engineering, lipid biochemistry

Prashant Mishra, Ph.D. (JNU)

Microbial production of organic acid, probiotic organisms, heterologus protein expression/production/ identification in yeast

Ms. Aradhana Srivastava, Ph.D. (IITD)

Tapan K. Chaudhuri, Ph.D. (Bose Institute, Kolkata)

Chaperone assisted protein folding in vivo and in vitro, mechanism of protein folding using stopped-flow CD and fluorescence techniques, protein engineering.

List of Publications
1. Alam Z., Fakhrul R., Molla A. H. and Roychoudhury P. K., Treatment of wastewater sludge by liquid state bioconversion process, J. Environ. Sci. Health, A36: 7, 2001. 2. Ali M. and Sreekrishnan T. R., Aquatic toxicity from pulp and paper mill effluents: a review, Adv. Environ. Res., 5: 175-196, 2001. 3. Ali M. and Sreekrishnan T. R., Anaerobic treatment of agriculture residue based pulp and paper mill effluents for AOX and COD reduction, Process Biochem., 36: 25-31, 2000. 4. Banka R. R. and Mishra S., Adsorption properties of the fibril forming protein from Trichoderma reesei, Enz. Microb. Technol., 31: 784-793, 2002. 5. Basu S., Gaur R., Gomes J., Sreekrishnan T. R. and Bisaria V. S., Effect of seed culture on solid-state bioconversion of wheat straw by Phanerochaete chrysosporium to animal feed, J. Biosci. Bioeng., 93 (1): 25-30, 2002. 6. Bhatia Y., Mishra S. and Bisaria V. S., Microbial -glucosidase: cloning properties and applications, CRC Crit. Rev. Biotechnol., 22: 375-407, 2002. 7. Bhatia Y., Mishra S. and Bisaria V. S., Biosynthetic activity of recombinant Escherichia coli expressed Pichia etchellsii -glucosidase II, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol., 102/103, 367-379, 2002. 8. Chakravarti R. and Sahai V., Optimization of compactin production in a chemically defined production medium by Penicillum citrinum using statistical methods, Process Biochem., 38 (4): 481-486, 2002. 9. Chakravarti R. and Sahai V., A chemically defined medium for the production of compactin by Penicillium citrinum, Biotechnol. Lett., 24: 527-530, 2002. 10. Chattopadhyay S., Srivastava A. K., Bhojwani S. S. and Bisaria V. S., Effect of major nutrients on Podophyllum hexandrum suspension, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 60: 541-546, 2003. 11. Chattopadhyay S., Srivastava A. K., Bhojwani S. S. and Bisaria V. S., Production of podophyllotoxin by large-scale cultivation of Podophyllum hexandrum in bioreactor, J. Biosci. Bioeng., 93 (2): 215-220, 2002. 12. Chattopadhyay S., Farkya S., Srivastava A. K. and Bisaria V. S., Bioprocess considerations for production of secondary metabolites by plant cell suspension cultures, Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng., 7: 138-149, 2002. 13. Chattopadhyay S., Srivastava A. K. and Bisaria V. S., Optimization of culture parameters for production of podophyllotoxin in suspension culture of Podophyllum hexandrum, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol., 102/103: 381-393, 2002. 14. Chaudhuri T. K., Farr G. W., Fenton W. A., Rospert S. and Horwich A. L., GroEL/ GroES-mediated folding of a protein too large to be encapsulated, Cell, 107: 235246, 2001. 15. Chaudhuri T. K., Arai M., Terada T. P., Ikura T. and Kuwajima K., Equilibrium and kinetic studies on folding of the authentic and recombinant forms of human alphalactalbumin by circular dichroism spectroscopy, Biochemistry, 39: 15643-51, 2000. 16. Chaudhuri T. K., Horii K., Yoda T., Arai M., Tagata S., Terada T. P., Uchiyama H., Ikura V, Tsumoto K., Kataoka H., Matsushima M., Kuwajima K. and Kumagai I., Effect of the extra n-terminal methionine residue on the stability and folding of recombinant alpha-lactalbumin expressed in Escherichia coli, J. Mol. Biol., 285: 1179-94, 1999. 17. Costantino H. R., Griebenow K., Mishra P., Langer R. and Klibanov A. M., Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopic investigation of protein stability in the lyophilized form, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1253: 69-74, 1995. 18. Dastidar M. G., Malik A. and Roychoudhury P. K., Biodesulphurization of Indian (Assam) coal using T. ferroxidans, Energy Conver. Mgmt., 41: 375-388, 2000. 19. Deb J. K. and Nath N., Plasmids of Corynebacteria, FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 175: 1120, 1999. 20. Giridhar R. and Srivastava A. K., Productivity improvement in L-sorbose biosynthesis by fed-batch cultivation of Gluconobacter oxydans, J. Biosci. Bioeng., 94 (1): 34-38, 2002.

21. Giridhar R. and Srivastava A. K., Mathematical modeling and its use for design of feeding strategies for L-sorbose fermentation, Can. J. Chem. Eng., 79 (3): 349-355, 2001. 22. Gomes J. and Menawat A. S., Precise control of dissolved oxygen in bioreactors: A model-based geometric algorithm, Chem. Eng. Sci., 55: 67-68, 1999. 23. Gomes J., Singhal A., Bhargava S. and Roychoudhury P. K., A model for adaptation of microorganisms to nitrates, Chem. Eng. Technol., 9: 1-8, 1999. 24. Gupta V., Nath S. and Chand S., Role of water structure on phase separation in polyelectrolyte-polyethyleneglycol based aqueous two-phase systems, Polymer, 43: 3387-3390, 2002. 25. Gupta V., Nath S. and Chand S., Electrostatic interactions, phase separation behavior and partitioning of proteins in polyelectrolyte based aqueous two-phase systems, Ind. J. Biotechnol, 1: 87-95, 2002. 26. Gupta V., Nath S. and Chand S., Estimation of proteins in the presence of polyethylenimine, Biotechnol. Lett., 22: 927-929, 2000. 27. Gupta P., Sahai V. and Bhatnagar R., Enhanced expression of the recombinant lethal factor of Bacillus anthracis by Fed-Batch culture, Biochem. Biophy. Res. Comm., 285 (7): 1025-1033, 2001. 28. Gupta A. and Srivastava A. K., Continuous propionic acid production from cheese whey using in-situ spin filter, Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng., 6: 1-5, 2001. 29. Jain S. and Nath S., Catalysis by ATP synthase: mechanistic, kinetic and thermodynamic characteristics, Thermochimica Acta, 378: 35-44, 2001. 30. S. Nath and S. Jain, Kinetic modeling of ATP synthase and its mechanistic implications [BREAKTHROUGHS AND VIEWS], Biochem. Biophy. Res. Comm., 272: 629-633, 2000. 31. Kaur J. and Agarwal G. P., Studies on protein transmission in thin channel flow module: The role of dean vortices for improving mass transfer, J. Mem. Sci., 196: 111, 2002. 32. Malik A., Dastidar M. G. and Roychoudhury P. K., Biodesulphurization of coal: effect of pulse feeding and leachate recycle, Enz. Microb.Technol., 28: 49-56, 2001. 33. Malik A., Dastidar M. G. and Roychoudhury P. K., Biodesulphurization of coal: rate enhancement by sulphur grown cells, Biotechnol. Lett., 22: 273-276, 2000. 34. Mishra P., Griebenow K. and Klibanov A. M. Structural basis of the molecular memory of imprinted proteins in anhydrous media, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 52: 609-614, 1996. 35. Moller K., Tidemand L. D., Srivastava A., Piskur J., Nielsen J. and L. Olson, Evaluation of novel hosts for heterologous protein production, 3rd European Symposium on Biochemical Engineering Science, 2000. 36. Mukhopadhyay S. N., Process Biotechnology Fundamentals, Replica Press, New Delhi, 2001. 37. Mukhopadhyay S. N., Effect of thermophilic temperatures on aeration parameters and dissolved oxygen probe performance in batch cultivation of B. stearothermophilus CU21, Ind. Chem. Engr. Sec. A, 43 (3): 147-151, 2001. 38. Nath S., The molecular mechanism of ATP synthesis by F1F0-ATP synthase: A scrutiny of the major possibilities, Adv. Biochem. Eng. Biotechnol., 74: 65-98, 2002. 39. Nath S., Surface tension of non-ideal binary liquid mixtures as a function of composition, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 209: 116-122, 1999. 40. Rathi P., Goswami V. K., Sahai V. and Gupta R., Statistical medium optimization and production of a hyperthermostable lipase from Burkholderia cepacia in a bioreactor, J. Appl. Microbiol., 93:1-8, 2002. 41. Sahoo D. K. and Agarwal G. P., Effect of oxygen transfer on glycerol biosynthesis by an osmophilic yeast Candia magnoliae I2B', Biotechnol. Bioeng., 78 (5): 545-555, 2002. 42. Sethi B., Jain M., Chowdhary M., Soni Y., Bhatia Y., Sahai V. and Mishra S., Cloning, characterization of Pichia etchellsii -glucosidase II and effect of media composition and feeding strategy on its production in a bioreactor, Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng., 7: 43-51, 2002.

43. Sharma S. and Agarwal G. P., Comparative studies on metal sorption characteristics of chelating gels for immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography, Sep. Sci. Tech., 37 (15): 3491-3511, 2002. 44. Sharma S., Dastidar M. G. and Sreekrishnan T. R., Zinc uptake by fungal biomass isolated from industrial wastewater, ASCE Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic and Radioactive Waste Management, 6 (4): 256-261, 2002. 45. Sharma S. and Agarwal G. P., Interactions of proteins with immobilized metal ions: role of ionic strength and pH, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 243: 61-72, 2001. 46. Sharma S. and Gomes J., Effect of dissolved oxygen on continuous production of Methionine, Eng. Life Sci., 1: 69-73, 2001. 47. Srivastava P., Karan G. and Deb J. K., Methods for specific integration of T7 RNA polymerase gene in the chromosome of Corynebacteria and the resultant Corynebacteria-T7 promotor based shuttle vector system, Patent application no. 96/DEL/ 2002, dated Feb. 5, 2002. 48. Srivastava A., Piskur J., Nielson J. and Eagel-Mitani M., Methods for the production of heterologous polypeptides in transformed yeast cells, Patent issued in USA Pt. No. 6190883 (Feb 2001), issued in EU Pt No. 99941413.92105 (April 2001), PCT No. WO 00/14258, and Japanese application No. 2000-568999. 49. Srivastava A., Rubiah Y. and Roychoudhury P. K., An empirical model for extractive lactic acid bioconversion using ion exchange resins. Art. Cells Blood Subs. Immob. Biotech., 27 (5&6): 403-410, 1999.

National & International Collaborations

The Department has been very active in collaborating with foreign institutions. Early in 1974, an lndo-Swiss programme in Biochemical Engineering with Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, was initiated which continued for a period of 11 years (1974-85) with substantial fund support to develop both the expertise in various areas of Biochemical Engineering as well as to furnish laboratories with a number of sophisticated equipment. Another source of major international funding was through UNDP (1989-94) on Advanced Research in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology through which the expertise of the faculty was enhanced by carrying out research in various reputed institutions of the world besides upgrading the laboratories. The Department also had a successful collaboration with French laboratories under Indo-French collaboration in Bioconversion, with Chemical Center, University of Lund, Sweden under Indo-Swedish collaboration. Currently, the institutes with whom the department has collaborations in various areas of research are :

National
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi Biocon India Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore Biotech International Ltd., New Delhi Central Pulp and Paper Institute, Saharanpur Dabur India Ltd, New Delhi Delhi University Indian Oil Corporation, New Delhi Institute of Genomics and Integrated Biology (IGIB), New Delhi International Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi International Panacea Ltd, New Delhi IMA chromatography Plant cell culture and lovastatin Bio-insecticides Xylanase production, pulp and paper Yeast production Plant cell culture, industrial enzymes, biochemical engineering Oil zapper formulation Bioinformatics Molecular biology of plant virus Enzymes, lactic acid, bio-fertilizers, biopesticides and xylanase production IMA chromatography, animal cell culture and nerve cell culture Scale up of process for oil zapper Large-scale animal feed production, enzyme formulation for poultry, scale-up of processes

National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), New Delhi Vetcare, Bangalore

International
ABRD Corporation, USA Chung Buk National University, South Korea Osaka University T. B. University, Czech Republic University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Carbon dioxide fixation Plant cell culture Bioprocess technology, plant cell culture Thermophilic biomethanation and waste utilization Biochemical engineering & mammalian cell culture

Ph.D. Projects
Completed in the last 3 years
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Studies on lipase catalysed esterification/transesterification reactions for resolution of racemic acids and alcohols in microaqueous medium Bioprocess engineering studies on bioconversion of sorbitol to sorbose by Acetobacter suboxydans Characterization of streptomycin resistant mutant of Corynebacterium acetoacidophilum ATCC 21476 Microbial production of tannase and its application in hydrolysis of tannins and synthesis of gallic acid esters Treatment of agroresidue based pulp and paper mill effluents Purification and characterisation of -glucosidases from a thermotolerant yeast Pichia etchellsii Strain improvement and reactor studies for the production of L-methionine by Corynebacterium lilium Purification and characterisation of cloned Pichia etchellsii -glucosidase II and its application in synthesis of oligosaccharides Probing protein polymer interactions in precipitation and aqueous two phase partitioning

10. Production of anticancer drug podophyllotoxin by plant cell cultivation of Podophyllum hexandrum 11. Molecular enzymology of microbial PHB biosynthesis 12. Studies on the production of compactin by fungal fermentation

In progress
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Mechanism of replication and sequence analysis of plasmids of Corynebacterium renale Structural and functional studies of -glucosidase gene of Pichia etchellsii Purification and characterisation of laccase gene from Cyathus species Molecular biological aspect of ATP synthesis Protease engineering for non-aqueous solvents Biopesticide azadiractin production from plant cell suspension culture of Azadiracta indica Fractionation of protein mixture using ultrafiltration Stabilization of wastewater treatment sludge and solid wastes using autoheated thermophilic digestion processes Separation of urokinase from bioreaction mixture

10. Development of a biocatalytic process for desulphurization of diesel 11. Ribozyme engineering for the study of gene regulation 12. Microbial production of gibberellins 13. Study of engineering aspects of MPI rhizobium biofertilizer production 14. Study and regulation of urokinase (tPA) production in vitro using animal cell culture 15. Enzyme catalyzed (trans) esterification of lipids/phospholipids 16. Structure and functional analysis of streptomycin nucleotydyl transferase of Corynebacterium acetoacidophilum 17. Molecular analysis of broad range plasmid of Corynebacterium renale for the development of versatile vectors 18. Sustained drug delivery systems: interactions of proteins with polymers 19. Strategies for overproduction of biodegradable polymer polyhydroxy butyrate in Alcaligenes eutrophus 20. Studies on growth and protein synthesis by immobilized recombinant microbial cells 21. Studies on production and optimisation of xylanase from Melanocarpus albomyces 22. Alternative control strategies for bioprocesses 23. Lipase catalyzed synthesis of mono-glycerides and sugar esters for application of food emulsifiers 24. Engineering of lipases using non-aqueous solvents

Research Activities
Processes and Products
Downstream Processing
l l

Immobilized Metal Ion Affinity Chromatography Membrane based protein fractionation Designer lipid synthesis Emulsifier synthesis Glyco-conjugates Peptides Poultry Feed Pulp and paper Biopesticides Citric Acid Compactin Glycerol Lactic Acid Methionine Nutraceuticals Propionic Acid Xanthan Gum Animal Feed Ethanol

Enzyme formulations
l l l l l l

Microbial Products
l l l l l l l l l

Processes from Renewable Resources

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Software
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Nonlinear control of Bioprocesses Podophyllotoxin and Azadirachtin by plant cell culture Streptokinase by recombinant Corynebacterium Urokinase by HT1080 cell line

Therapeutics
l l l

Student Activities
The Department, in keeping with IIT Delhis tradition of active student participation, encourages students to be actively involved in various academic and non-academic ventures and activities. Towards such goals, BETA or Biochemical Engineers and Technologists Association was established by the students and faculty of the Department. The association, through its various activities, has developed a strong relationship with the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industry and other government and non-government organizations like Department of Biotechnology and The Confederation of Indian Industry. BETA has become a portal for the students to gain exposure to issues, both technical and managerial, in the field of Biotechnology. The association also organizes the prestigious yearly Conference on Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, BIOHORIZON. BIOHORIZON is a platform for the Industry and Academia to come together and discuss issues of Technical, Social and Economic importance in the areas of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology. BETA through BIOHORIZON hopes to promote extensive interaction between the Academia and Industry in new ventures, necessary for the growth of the Biotechnology Industry in India. Further, it acts as an excellent platform for young scientists to display their research and reach out to the Biotechnology Community at large through the BIOHORIZON publication. Students from the department, through BETA, also have an opportunity to gain exposure and display their research in other such Conferences and Symposiums held all over the country.

Fellowships for UGs/PGs

For Under Graduates Students (Exchange Programme)
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Scholarship from University of Massachusetts (UMASS), Amherst. Scholarship from University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada Scholarship from Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Lyon (INSA), France Scholarship Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland Scholarship from Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, France.

For Post Graduate Students

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Institute Assistantship for MS and Ph.D. Students Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD)- Sandwich Model Scholarship

Opportunities and Placement

The curriculum structure of the department provides the students first hand experience in a variety of areas in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology. The system is flexible so that the student also has adequate opportunity to learn about other engineering fields such as Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Computer Science. The department also has MOUs with German and Swiss universities for exchange programmes and joint research projects. Therefore, the students have the opportunity to gain industrial and research exposure both in India and abroad. Apart from opening a host of avenues in the Biotechnology and the Pharmaceutical Sector internationally, the curriculum also enables the students to enter diverse and interdisciplinary fields. Biocon, Ranbaxy and Astrazeneca have recruited students from the department in the area of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology and Tooltech, Strandgenomics, Metahelix in the area of Bioinformatics. Also, companies such as HLL, ITC, Evalueserve, Mckinseys have recruited students for management positions related to the field of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology.

Biochemical Engineering Sector

u Process plant design u Fermentation technology-enzymes, microbial, animal & plant cell cultivation and recombinant product u Media design and optimisation u Design of waste water treatment facilities u Downstream processing operations u Process Automation & Control u Biosensors u Software development for fermentation processes

Sponsored Research & Consultancy Projects /Our Students -An Asset to the Industry

Bioscience Sector
u rDNA technology u Designed vector construction u Bioinformatics, data mining, software development in genomics

Faculty and Expertise

Name and Email Agarwal G.P gopal@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Bisaria V.S. vbisaria@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Chaudhuri T. K. tapan@dbeb.iitd.ac. * 1005 1002 Broad Area of Specialisation Bioprocess engineering, membrane based separation, IMA chromatography Enzyme and microbial technology, lignocellulose bioconversion, plant cell biotechnology Chaperone assisted protein folding in vivo and in vitro, mechanism of protein folding using stopped-flow CD and fluorescence techniques, protein engineering. Ribozyme engineering, biodesulphurization, recombinant therapeutic proteins Nonlinear control, ANN, solid-state bioconversion, L-methionine production Enzyme engineering, lipid biochemistry Molecular enzymology of hydrolytic enzymes, yeast expression systems Transfer process, microbial reaction kinetics, bioconversion, environmental biotechnology, ecology engineering, process biotechnology Bioseparation, biothermodynamics, bioenergetics & molecular machines Biochemical engineering and cell culture engineering Instrumentation and control, online analysis, scale-up of bioprocesses Biochemical engineering and environmental biotechnology Microbial production of organic acid, probiotic organisms, heterologus protein expression/production/identification in yeast Modelling, simulation and optimization of bioprocesses, plant cell biotechnology Enzyme technology, biochemical engineering, environmental biotechnology

1012

Deb J.K. jkdeb@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Gomes J. gomes@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Mishra P. pmishra@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Mishra S. saroj@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Mukhopadhyay S.N. snmukho@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Nath S. sunath@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Roychoudhury P.K. pkrc@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Sahai V. vsahai@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Sreekrishnan T.R. sree@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Srivastava A. ars@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Srivastava A.K. ashokks@dbeb.iitd.ac.in Subhash Chand subhashc@dbeb.iitd.ac.in

1006 1013 1015 1007 1003

1009 1011 1008 1014 6192

1010 1004

*Prefix "2659" to these telephone numbers to call from outside IIT Delhi.

For further information, please contact:

Prof. (Ms.) Saroj Mishra, HOD Department of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, INDIA Tel: +91 11 26596109, Fax: +91 11 26582282 Web: www.iitd.ac.in