PU faculty granted two patents

Chandigarh: Dr. Rohit Sharma, Head, Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Panjab University and BioNEST-PU has recently been granted patents for two of his team’s innovations in two consecutive days. The patent entitled, “Nitrile hydrolyzing microbes for industrial use” was granted on 10th August 2021 while another patent for the novel anti-carcinogenic extracts was granted on the following day.
Dr. Sharma shared that with the changes in conventional academic culture, the researchers and innovators are now inclined towards protecting and commercializing their intellectual property.
Dr. Sharma and his team is well-versed with extremophilic enzymes ie., the enzymes from microbial sources which are capable of functioning in extreme environmental conditions and thus have a wide range of industrial and biotechnological applications. One such enzyme is the nitrile-hydrolizing enzyme, the nitrilase which has a major application in biodegradation of toxic and recalcitrant industrial wastes and is also a key player in the synthesis of multiple carboxylic acid-based compounds. The enzyme is also known to mediate the synthesis of multiple high-value commercials, mainly pharmaceuticals and also sells globally as a bulk enzyme. In their quest for nitrile hydrolyzing microbes for industrial use, Dr. Sharma’s team included two students of PU who are now placed in MNCs and are living overseas, along with a startup company which collaborated with them to further this technology to the market.
Another team including three faculty members from the Panjab University- Dr. Rohit Sharma from the Department of Microbial Biotechnology, PU, Prof. Jasdeep Kaur and Dr. Monika Sharma from the Department of Biotechnology, PU had been working on the anti-cancer properties of plant extracts, mainly from a wild plant commonly known as ‘Jangli jalebi’ (Pithecellobium dulce). The team had successfully prepared plant extracts with anti-carcinogenic properties back in 2011 and a patent was thus filed for protection of the IP. Summarizing the importance of such extracts, Dr. Sharma explained how bio-active compounds from various natural sources, mainly plants are being researched upon. He emphasized that the medical world today is looking for alternative cancer treatments and the need to replace or at least reduce the use of chemical compounds is the need of the hour. The targeted cancer for this technology has been the breast cancer, of which more than 1 million cases are reported every year in India alone.
Dr. Rohit Sharma along with Dr. Monika Sharma had also received the Pfizer- IIT Delhi Innovation and IP Program (PIIP) for the patent of these anti-carcinogenic extracts in 2020. Additionally Dr. Sharma stated that such awards and recognitions not only bring credit for the research and innovation, but also help the university go up a few miles on annual rankings’ charts. The team is now looking forward to the examination of certain other patents in-line for the patent grant procedure.