Research Projects

Plant Lectins are glycan recognition proteins with potential therapeutic applications. The mannose binding plant lectins (MBL) like snowdrop lectin, garlic lectin, etc. are well known for their antiviral, anti microbial, anti cancer effects. A s systematic study will unravel their potential applications and also help us understand their mechanism of action. In this study we propose to isolate lectins from ginger (Zingiber officinale), Curcuma (Curucuma longa), Allium cepa (onion) and characterize them. Our preliminary data based on studies we could do through an earlier sERB grant (EMR/2017/000724) gives interesting leads to take the work forward. This project proposes to isolate lectins from selected plants, characterize them functionally through hemagglutination assays and anticancer studies on cell lines and structural characterization through circular dichroism, fluorescence spectroscopy, bioinformactics analysis and X-ray crystallography. This will help us to understand the potential anti cancer effects of these lectins and give insights into their mechanisitic basis