The Research and Development Cell (RDC) with cutting-edge technology had been established at PONNAIYAH RAMAJAYAM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY(PRIST) in the academic year 2008 to help the society in promoting science and technology on energy, environment, food, materials, biomolecules and mechanisms, drug discovery, and stem cell platforms for regenerate medicines. The RDC is housed in an independent, multi-storied building with the state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructure to help achieve its mission and vision. The centre has dedicated laboratories for Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Industrial Biotechnology, Molecular Microbiology, Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Physical Sciences, Plant Tissue Culture, Animal Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Stem Cell Research, Pharmacology, and Pharmaceuticals. The centre with 32 dedicated scientists from different disciplines is now marching on to attain on par excellence in the arena of academic and research activities under the directions of Prof. V. Manivannan.

PONNAIYAH RAMAJAYAM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY(PRIST) has identified four major research areas to work for the benefit of human welfare:

  • Drug Discovery and Development
  • Energy and Environment
  • Materials and Manufacturing
  • Bio-metic Systems and Engineering

The plinth area of the Research and Development Cell is 40,000 square feet, of which 19,200 sq ft is currently dedicated to active research units such as Drug discovery, Stem Cell Biology, Molecular Biotechnology, Metabolic Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Material Sciences and physical Sciences, and Plant Biotechnology. Each division has the state-of-the-art facilities to carry out the mission of the Centre.

Technologies available at PONNAIYAH RAMAJAYAM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY(PRIST)

Mechanical/Electrical/Electronic Engineering:

  • Embedded systems and automation technology

Environmental Engineering:

  • Unique adsorption technology for wastewater treatment
  • Nanocoagulant technology for effluent treatment
  • Organo-refining as a potential fuel cell technology

Material Science:

  • Crystal manufacturing and processing technology for electronic components, semiconductors, integrated circuits, led, crystals, relays, connectors, ac-dc power supplies, capacitors, micro controllers, resistors, electronic hardware, transformers.
  • Custom made nano-composite materials for industrial applications

Industrial Biotechnology:

  • Microbial strain development for industrially important chemicals, enzymes and bioenergy productions.
  • Distillery effluent treatment and utilization of waste for value-added bioproducts at pilot-scale.
  • Upstream and downstream processing for bulk chemicals and enzymes production.
  • Bio-fertilizers production.
  • Biogas production.
  • Spirulina cultivation and processing.

Plant Biotechnology:

  • Hill Banana cultivation.
  • Food and energy crop plantations.
  • Tissue culturing for commercially important plant propagation.
  • Disease-free plantation.

The Research and Development Cell at PONNAIYAH RAMAJAYAM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY(PRIST) has thirty-two well-qualified scientists from different disciplines in science and engineering. The research interest of the faculty spans a wide range; from energy and environment to problems of immediate interest to industry and the society.

Administration

Dr. V. Manivannan

Astrophysics and crystallography


Dr. M. Ramalingam

Quantum chemistry


Dr. S. Mohan Raj

Metabolic engineering


Biochemistry/Bioinformatics

Dr. Anusha Bhaskar

Medicinal biochemistry


Dr. K. Shanthi

Bioinformatics


Dr. M. Srinivasan

Clinical biochemistry and nanoscience


Dr. Anusha Bhaskar

Medicinal biochemistry


Dr. K. Shanthi

Bioinformatics


Dr. M. Srinivasan

Clinical biochemistry and nanoscience


Biotechnology

Dr. S. Ravikumar

Marine radiation biology


Dr. R. Elango Mathavan

Plant tissue culture and plant genetics


Dr. S. Patharajan

Plant tissue culture and plant genetics


Dr. B. Kaleeswaran

Phytomedicines and fish immunology


Dr. A. Sheeba Christina

Molecular diagnosis and cancer biology


Chemistry

Dr. Gokulakrishnan

Nano-coagulant and effluent treatment


Dr. Ragupathy

Polymer chemistry


Computer Science and Engineering

Dr. P.L.K. Priyadarsini

Theoretical computation


Dr. Adithan

Networking and image processing


Dr. Joyce Marry

Parallel processing


Dr. K. Saravanan

Computational algorithms


Environmental Engineering

Dr. Ashutosh Das

Effluent treatment


Dr. Mukesh Goel

Environmental Engineering


Dr. K. Ravikumar

RS, GIS and environment quality modeling


Material Sciences

Dr. J. Chandra Das

Nono-composites


Dr. J. Ramajothi

Thin film and nonlinear optical materials


Dr. Senthil Kumar

Engineering materials


Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Vincent H. Wilson

Embedded systems and automation


Microbiology

Dr. S. Ramesh

Marine and molecular biology


Dr. Ushadevi

Clinical microbiology


Pharmacy

Dr. Kailasam Koumaravelu

Pharmacogenetics


A total of 560 research scholars have registered for their Ph.D work in Research and Development Cell at PONNAIYAH RAMAJAYAM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY(PRIST) under broad disciplines:

  • Crystal growth and material science
  • Structure determination of bioactive compounds
  • Characterization of bioactive compounds from plant and marine source
  • Ex situ conservation of endangered plants
  • Molecular marker development
  • Identification of novel drugs from marine source
  • Molecular modeling and drug designing
  • Renewable energy and environment
  • Farming systems management
  • Ecology of Tsunami affected areas
  • Solid waste and waste water management
  • Water resources and management
  • Sustainable development
  • Computational science
  • Materials research

Publications

Total number of publications in the last five years 452
Paper publications in Scopus-indexed international peer-reviewed journals 296
Publications in book chapters 15
Paper publications in national peer-reviewed journals 156
In-house annual journals 4
In-house annual newsletters 2

National and international conferences/symposia/workshops

International conferences conducted 3
National conferences/workshop conducted 7
Short-term training courses conducted 4
Papers presented in international conferences 34
Papers presented in national conferences 50
Guest lectures delivered by the faculty 20
Workshops attended by the faculty 11

Awards

Ph.D. degree awarded 33
Young scientist award received 1
Fellow membership in international science congress association 1

Projects submitted to/granted from extramural funding sources: a) indicates number of proposals submitted/granted in the last three years; b) indicates total size of budget of submitted/granted proposals in the last three years; c) indicates total size of funding from extramural and in-house for research activities.

Publications

S.No Name of the Principal Investigator Title of the Project Proposal Name of the Funding agency Budget outlay proposed (Rs. in Lakhs) Status of the Project proposal
1 Dr. P.L.K. Priyadarshini Scientist, CRD A Study on the Applications of graph theory concepts in cryptography DRDO 4.1 Completed
2 Dr. S. Ramesh Scientist, CRD Development of Real-time PCR Based High Throughput Biosensor System for the Detection and identification of Food Borne pathogenic DRDO 9.44 Ongoing
3 Dr. S. Ramesh Scientist, CRD Antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemic and antioxidative effects of Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) fruits in experimental and clinical models World Noni Research Foundation 9.99 Ongoing
4 Dr. R. Elango Mathavan Scientist, CRD In vitro and Ex situ Conservation and Rehabilitation of selected Threatened Medicinal Plants of North East India. DBT 17.1 Ongoing
5 Dr. Ashutosh Das Director, CEE Characterization and Utilization of Residue, Deoiled Cake from Non-Edible Oil Seeds as Adsorbents in Wastewater Treatment DST 53.58 Sanctioned
6 Dr. B. Kaleeswaran Scientist, CRD Investigation of anti-urolithiatic by traditionally used medicinal plant pedalium murex L.on kidney stone-struvite crystal DST-Young Scientist FAST Track 22 Sanctioned
7 Ms. N. Selvasudha Research Scholar Novel nono formation for treating hyper lititemia DST-Women’s Scientist Scheme WOS-B 7.24 Ongoing
Total Amount 123.45

In-house funding and support

Projects sanctioned #8; total budget size 12.4 Lakhs
Lab infrastructure, building, equipment 4.2 Crores

Publications

The major objective of providing consultancy services to academia and industry is to promote science and technology with social benefits. PONNAIYAH RAMAJAYAM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY(PRIST) is also willing to serve as a resource hub in connecting strategic partners from academia and industries for business development.

Types of consultancy services provided

  • Product and process development for industries.
  • Farming system and management for agriculturists/farmers.
  • Solid waste and waste water management to industries.
  • Business support in aromatic and medicinal plants cultivation and marketing.
  • Production of bulk and fine chemicals, biomaterials and energy related products.
  • Analytical support for students, researchers, industrial and technical professionals.
  • Training programs for students and research scholars on innovative projects.
  • Pollution monitoring control.
  • Socio-economic development.
  • Rural development.