Our research focuses on exploring the microbial community from high altitude extreme environments of the Himalaya. One area has been exploring the extreme alpine regions like glacier ecosystem to understand the microbial succession and colonization patterns. Another important area has been to unravel the potential of extremophiles from Himalaya for bioprospection. Currently, with psychotropic efficient hydrolytic bacterial community we have been targeting to improve/accelerate organic waste degradation in alpine regions. Extremozymes for possible industrial applications has been another focus. Apart from bacterial community we have also been exploring the higher fungi (mushroom) of economic importance. We have begun with Lentinula edodes and currently we have developed its improved captive cultivations using local substrates and enriched it with Vitamin D.

The main focus of our lab can be summarized in the following broad themes:

Study changes in community composition in different Himalayan glacier to understand its adaptational strategies and to reveal the response of microorganisms to environmental change.

Exploration of bacteria from alpine regions of Himalaya for bioprospection-organic waste management & industrial enzymes.

Exploration of higher fungi its enrichment/fortification for value addition and analysis of its metabolites.