Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology

ession analyses are being studied in target plants. Intensive work is underway for bioprospection of microbes, genes and proteins from niche locations particularly from the cold desert area of the Himalayan zone. The Institute has fully functional facility like biolistic gun, culture rooms, containment facility, confocal microscope, fluorescence activated cell sorter etc. for undertaking transgenic research in plants. Institute has initiated studies on adaptaional biology of plants in response to climate change and unique facility like FACE and FATI has been installed. Studies have also been initiated in the area of nanobiology and infrastructure is being strengthened by installing multimode scanning probe microscope, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, etc. more...

Institute has initiated work in the area of bioinformatics under the name of "Studio of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics”. Presently the studio is in expansion mode and has high speed optical internet connection, HP Z600 range workstations with ultrasharp monitors, desktops, printers and UPS. Also the Studio has access to the next generation sequencing facility, Illumina Genome Analyzer II, through a Linux cluster with 10 TB disk space and 140 GB physical memory. In order to meet the challenged raised by next generations sequencing and systems biology approach, the Studio aims to make a niche in high performance computing by raising and practicing such facilities. The Bioresource development unit of the Institute has GIS facility, computational facility for inventorization, database development & mapping and a internationally recognized referral herbarium. more...

The Natural Plant Product Unit focuses research on chemical characterization of active constituents from plant sources, synthetic chemistry, molecular modification for value added compounds, natural colours and dyes. The labs are equipped with NMR, preparatory and analytical HPLC, GC, GC-MS, microwave synthesizer, Super Critical Extraction Unit with head space, spray dryer, industrial scale rotavapour, distillation units of 10Q, 4 Q and 15 Kg capacity for processing of herbals. more...

Tea is one of the mandate crop of the institute and research is focused on germplasm & chemical characterization, quality and processing parameters, developing value added products, pesticide residue analysis, tea husbandry and bioformulation. To facilitate tea research, institute has a tea garden, tea factory, tea quality testing lab equipped with HPLC, GC, etc. more...

A floriculture field with greenhouse exist to undertake agrotechnological studies of ornamentals under open field and polyhouse conditions. Work is also being carried out to develop hybrids and mutants through conventional and non- conventional breeding programmes. The unit has a cold chamber for preserving quality planting materials. more...

The institute has done commendable work in the area of plant viral diagnostics and has a dedicated facility for identification & characterization of viruses, maintenance of virus cultures and raising virus free plants.