A well-equipped department

CHENNAI: Enter the Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology at the Presidency College and you would probably get the feeling  of having discovered an oasis in the midst of a desert. In what is a complete contrast to the old dilapidated buildings that welcome you in the premises, the department, with its state-of-the-art laboratory set up with the help of generous funding from central agencies, is now forging ahead in research that could provide solutions to many environment problems facing the country and Tamil Nadu, in particular.  The department, claimed to be possessing the most advanced biotech laboratory among city colleges, was recently sanctioned a total of about `2.30 crore by the DRDO and the Ministry of Science and Technology for two projects. The thrust areas of research under the projects include coming up with indigenous, transgenic varieties of seeds that are pest resistant and usage of algae in treatment of effluents from industries and production of biofuel.  According to professor AS Elumalai of the department, researchers in the laboratory have now isolated several strains of algae which have been found to be highly efficient in absorbing dissolved solids and heavy metals. Several field trials have also been made in the dying units in Tirupur where the results have been extremely encouraging. He says that using algae to treat effluents is a cost effective methodology compared to using artificial membranes that is currently in vogue. “The advantage is that we can recycle the algae and thereby reduce the cost immensely. The artificial membranes, on the other hand, are mostly imported and cost very high,” says the professor.  Also, the laboratory has a large collection of rare species of algae that have been sourced from different parts of the country, even from the Thar desert. Apart from aiding in effluent treatment, algae with high lipid content are also being isolated for production of biofuel, which is one of the major agendas of the DRDO funded project. Further, the department has also branched out to focus on treating radioactive effluents from nuclear reactors through algae application. Elumalai says that on the agriculture side, the laboratory is working on new varieties of transgenic seeds in pigeon pea, chick pea and cotton. “While the MNCs use Nuclear Gene Transformation method, we are working with Chloroplast Gene Transformation method where there is no role for the pollen and the genes have exclusive paternal inheritance,” he says.