A. Ganesh Kumar

Characterization of an alkaline active – thiol forming extracellular serine keratinase by the newly isolated Bacillus pumilus

Aims:  The aim of the study was to optimize microbial degradation of keratinous waste and to characterize the alkaline active keratinase showing its biotechnological importance.

In situ immobilization of acid protease on mesoporous activated carbon packed column for the production of protein hydrolysates.

The mesoporous activated carbon (MAC) was used as a support material for in situ immobilization of acid protease (AP). The optimum temperature for the activities of both free and immobilized AP was found to be 50 degrees C. The catalytic efficiency of AP-MAC system has significantly been maintained for more than ten consecutive reaction cycles. The functional groups and surface morphology of the AP, MAC and AP-MAC were observed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The production of protein hydrolysates was carried out from bovine serum albumin (BSA) using AP-MAC packed column and its properties were studied.

Effect of Ionic Strength on Porphyrin Drugs Interaction with Quadruplex DNA Formed by the Promoter Region of C-myc and Bcl2 Oncogenes.

C-myc and Bcl2 are well characterized oncogenes that are capable of forming G-quadruplex structures. Promoter regions of C-myc and Bcl2 forming G-quadruplex structures are chemically synthesized and G-quadruplex structure is formed in presence of 100 mM potassium ion. Three different porphyrin drugs, namely TMPyP2, TMPyP3, and TMPyP4 are allowed to interact with quadruplex DNA complex and the site and nature of interaction are studied. Drug interactions with quadruplex DNA were carried out in different potassium ionic strengths using fluorescence spectroscopy. It is found that fluorescence hypochromicity decreases with an increase in ionic strength in the case of TMPyP4, TMPyP3, and TMPyP2. Fluorescence titration studies and Job plots indicate that four molecules of TMPyP4, two molecules of TMPyP3 and TMPyP2 are interacting with one molecule of quadruplex DNA.

Nanoemulsion drug delivery by ketene based polyester synthesized using electron rich carbon/silica composite surface

A new carrier matrix for nanoemulsion drug delivery was synthesized from glycine as the raw material, using mesoporous/microporous electron rich carbon-silica composite surface (MAC(800)). MAC(800) was prepared from rice husk in two-stage carbonization. The surface area, pore volume, and pore size distribution of MAC(800) were measured, using nitrogen adsorption isotherms at 77K. The unpaired electron density of MAC(800) was measured in electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR), using TEMPOL (4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidine-1-oxyl) as the reference spin probe. Glycine was converted into ketene at the surface of MAC(800), which further underwent radical polymerization to form a low molecular weight ketene polymer (LMKP) of ester structure. The structure and the properties of LMKP were confirmed through (13)C, (1)H and DEPT nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC). The two hydrophilic drugs namely ciprofloxacin hydrochloride (CPH) and gentamicin sulphate (GS) were chosen for the nanoemulsion preparation and characterization. They were characterized for morphology, interaction of drugs with the polymer and their crystallinity, using HR-TEM, DSC and XRD, respectively. The encapsulation efficiency of the LMKP towards the drugs ciprofloxacin hydrochloride and gentamicin sulphate were 26% and 12%, respectively. The dissolution studies of the nanoemulsion were carried out for the pH 6.5, 7.4 and 8.0. The cytocompatibility studies were done for LMKP as well as nanoemulsion using Hep2 epithelial cells.