Biofilms

Vision
To be recognised globally as a Centre of Excellence in the field of Biofilms Biology, imparting knowledge and promoting interdisciplinary research for scientific discovery.

Mission

• To develop novel antibiofilms therapeutics .
• To educate students in the area biofilms and groom young scientistsin Research and Development.
• To build the capacity of technical personnel.
• To provide solutions for issues in the environmental and health sectors.

Research Activities

• To carry out advanced interdisciplinary research activities in the area of microbial biofilms.
• To take up new projects funded by extramural agencies and industries.
• To conduct courses with significant participation of external faculty, industrial and regulatory experts on microbiology and biofilms.
• Entering into collaborative research engagements with Research Institutes and Industrial Organizations for better understanding of issues of scientific and technological management between different stakeholders.

Projects at Centre of Excellence in Biofilms
Funded Project : DST-SERB (ECR/2017/001335)

Project Title: Stress resistance and characterization of exopolysaccharides secreted by oral bacterial biofilm communities: A target for developing novel antibiofilm therapeutics.

Project description:

Colonization of bacteria in human oral cavities can cause serious issues for human health and social economics. Most importantly dental caries prevalence is as high as 60-80% in Indian children. Generally, periodontal disease is more common in adults. The Ministry of Health,Govt. of India, has launched the primary health care program focussed on its prevention and has spent huge amounts for the control measures, every year. It is also becoming more important to understand the whole physiological function of bacteria in biofilm, as metabolic changes control the balance of symbiotic (healthy) and pathogenic species within the oral bacterial communities. Currently advanced technologyis available to study the function of oral microbial communities, primarily focusing on mono species biofilms whereas, mixed species communities are less known. There are only very few reports on multi species biofilm using saliva as sole carbon source to grow the biofilms, while some reports recently describe dual-species and triple-species biofilm models. There is relatively a lack of understanding in the molecular mechanisms of multispecies interaction. Developing new methods to study the stress tolerance mechanisms, especially with the mixed species communities, is essential for guiding the information that helps to plan a strategy to improve human oral health.
The main objectives of the project are characterization of the matrix composition of mono species and mixed species biofilm communities, to identify and study the exopolysaccharides secreted by mono and mixed species biofilm.

OngoingProjects : Studies of isolation, identification and characterization of marine biofilm forming bacteria and its ability to degrade oil contaminants.

Project Description:

Marine pollution has a huge impact in the environment. There are several sources and types of pollution that occur due to the release of various contaminants. One of the major contributors is oil spills. Sources for these include releases of crude oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs and wells, spills of refined petroleum products (such as gasoline and diesel) and their by-products and the spills of any oily white refuse or waste oil. Bioremediation is a promising tool for the degradation of these contaminants in an eco-friendly manner. From an ecological perspective, microorganisms in environmental biofilms actively participate in ecosystem functioning. Biofilm formation is useful as well as harmful in healthcare, drinking water distribution systems, food, and marine industries etc., Biofilms offer beneficial roles in a variety of fields including applications in plant protection, bioremediation, wastewater treatment, and corrosion inhibition amongst others. Our present work mainly focuses on the isolation and characterization of marine biofilm forming bacteria.
Our objectives of our present work mainly focus on the isolation and characterization of marine biofilm forming bacteria from sediment and water samples collected from the beach shores of Nemmeli, Nivac and Mutukadu located near Chennai and to find its ability to degrade oil.

Training offered: Internship training on Microbial Biofilms

Research Publications

1. Anand R, Vihaashriee, Johanna Rajkumar and Saravanan Periasamy “Isolation and characterization of marine biofilm forming bacteria and its ability to degrade oil. International Conference on Challenges in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering for Sustainable Development, AnnamalaiUniversity, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, March 23 & 24, 2022.
2. Poornachandra G, Anand R, and Saravanan Periasamy “Investigations on the synergistic antibiofilm activity of antibiotics and sodium dodecyl sulfate on oral biofilm forming bacteria. International Conference on Challenges in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering for Sustainable Development, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, March 23 & 24, 2022.
3. Poornachandra G, Anand R, Johanna Rajkumar and Saravanan Periasamy “Stress resistance of biofilm forming bacterial isolates from human oral cavities” International Conference in Recent Progress in Biological Sciences,AyyaNadarJanakiAmmalCollege (Autonomous), Sivakasi, Tamilnadu - March 4 & 5, 2022
4. Anand R, Meeralakshmi MS, Johanna Rajkumar, and Saravanan Periasamy, “Extracellular products of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens B2SA2 inhibit the biofilm formation of bacterial isolates from oral communities “International Conference on Drug Discovery and Translational Research DDTR-2021”, Pondicherry University, pp-12, February 25 & 26, 2021.
5. Pooranchandra.G, Anand R, Saravanan P “Stress resistance of biofilm forming bacterial isolates from Human oral cavities” International conference on Environmental, Agricultural, chemical and Biological Sciences ICEACBS 2022, VOICE, In support of UNITED NATIONS -SDGS. January 22,23 & 26, 2022.
6. Subhashini S, Anand R, Saravanan Periasamy “Isolation and characterization of coaggregation biofilm-forming bacteria from oral cavity”, ICAST, Institute of Innovations, Thiruvannamalai, April 2&3, 2021.
7. Shanmugasundaram S, Sankari K, Rakshanan KS, Anand R, Meerlakshmi MS and Saravanan Periasamy “Green synthesized silver nanoparticles from bittergourd (Momordicacharantia) exhibits inhibitory activity of bacterial isolates from dental plaques” Web Conference on Biotechnology for a Better Tomorrow, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Virudhunagar June 25,26 & 27, 2020
8. Meeralakshmi MS, Anand R, Johanna Rajkumar, and Saravanan Periasamy, “Antagonistic interaction of oral biofilm forming bacteria, Boon or Bane to species diversity?”, International Conference on Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, Quaid e Millath Government College,Chennai, pp-18, January 30 & 31, 2020
9. MS Meeralakshmi, Anand R, and P. Saravanan, “Isolation and Characterization of Biofilm forming Streptococcus Salivarius (M2SA3) Rothiadentocariosa (MDP2) from dental plaque and their interactions, 3RD International Conference – Evidence Based Medicine and clinical Research (EBCOON 2020), SRM Medical college and research centre, Chennai, pp-EBOP12, February 7 & 8, 2020.

Invited talk

1. Dr. Saravanan.P. Invited as Resource person for the online presentation to the PhD students Organized by Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences,Nazarbayev University Astana, Kazakhstan, 04.11.2020. Title of the Talk “ Oral Biofilms Basics”
2. Dr. Saravanan P. Invited as Resource person for the Workshop on Anaerobic Microbiology, Organized by Department of Biotechnology, Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore, 28.02.2020 and 29.02.2020, Title of the Talk” Anaerobic Oral Biofilms”
3. Dr. Saravanan P. Invited as Resource person for the Workshop on Microbial Biofilms Organized by School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA University, Thanjavur, 13.12.2019 and 14.12.2019, Title of the Talk” Biofilm methods and Medical Biofilms”
4. Dr. Saravanan P. Invited as Resource person for the International Conference workshop on image analysis for the treatment of human infectious disease Organized by Department of Biotechnology, Kumaraguru College of Technology, 10.05.2018 and 11.05.2018, Title of the Talk” Hands on Training on Biofilm Image Analysis”.

List of Projects Guided/Guiding

List of Bacterial 16SrDNA Sequences published in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), USA.

List of Bacterial cultures deposited and their accession numbers

Courses in curriculum: Related to Biofilms Biology

MoU’s Signed:NIL