KERALA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE VELLAYANI

Department of Plant Biotechnology

B. Sc. - M. Sc. (integrated) Biotechnology

REPORT ON VISIT TO

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS

KARIAVATTOM

NAME : Elsit Mariya C.

ADMISSION NO : 2015-09-014

[15 May 2019]

 VISIT REPORT

As part of our course Biot.4232 Biotechnology Industry we had the great

opportunity to visit Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Centre (DCB), Kariavattom, Trivandrum on 15 May 2019, Wednesday. We were
accompanied by our teachers Ms. Sindura K. P. and Mrs. Shily C. along with our
juniors. We started our journey by 9:00am and reached there by 10:00am. On
reaching, faculties and students gave us a warm welcome to their department.
Dr.Biji C. L., one of the eminent lecturer there enlightened us about their
department, its vision, their faculties and facilities, contributions, ongoing
researches and the career opportunities that they are opening in front of us through
a vedio.

The Centre for Bioinformatics established in 2005 and upgraded as the

Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2011 is a new
generation inter-disciplinary as well as multidisciplinary teaching & research
Department of University of Kerala, India. Science does not grow in isolation and
the department is integrated to various other departments and scientists. Even its
being the youngest department of total 41 Department,it’s now at its full swing
under the guidance of their Head Of the Department Dr. Achuthsankar S. Nair.
Research is their top priority which focuses on both Computational and Life
Science problems.The Department as a knowledge generation community of
researchers, teachers and students, with an aim to produce new knowledge in the
field of Computational Biology, Bioinformatics and allied areas to further
scientific advancement and also to address problems of possible social relevance.

The lecture sessions were beginning by Shanitha A., lecturer in the

department. She dealt with Computer Aided Drug Design. She begun with a vedio
introducing us the topic. Later then moved to the structure analysis on protein and
its folding including tertiary folding and the protein visualising tools and about
various formats. Protein modelling was discussed thoroughly in that session. The
later topics included over the whole session include Drug Discovery: from ancient
era to the biochemical era, where too much of difference were occurred. Through
this lecture mechanism of drug action and different databases were introduced,
which were familiar to us. After the lead optimization we look for the ideal drug
targets and finally go for Docking to analyse the acceptability and rejection of the
particular docking. They introduced several docking software for the docking
procedure, on that discovery studio is the one software on which they are working.
A practical session on discovery studio was arranged in the afternoon session.
 After tea break professor of the department Dr. Achuthsankar sir welcomed
us to the campus. The department was arranged so well. Since the nature is
conserved there. It makes the campus more beautiful. He told about the important
aspect that they are dealing with and he also invited as to their campus for further
studies. The campus was totally environment friendly made one.

The next session was deal by Rani J. R., lecturer of the department. She
deals with the plant pathogen interaction studies using Transcriptome data. She
introduced her work to us and certain tools regards to the next generation
sequencing. Transcriptome analysis: this can be saying that expression based
analysis. So many tools in bioinformatics are needed for the particular selection
and analysis procedures. Some of the examples include Open Reading
Frame(ORF) tool, Secretome and Localiser tool. Importance of quality check of
the particular data by any software by Fas Q method was effectively introduced
through this session. She introduced the tedious process involved in the sequence
analysis and its identification. All those seems to be very informative to us. The
lecture session came to an end by 1 pm and we are taken to have lunch at canteen
and we enjoyed the greenery of the campus by clicking certain photos.

The afternoon session was taken by Reshmi and Shahina. They are running
MDS ( Massive Data Analytics) company in which DNA sequences are analysed.
They also offers hands on training in DNA sequencing methods.They were more
interactive towards us and their lecture was on the topic “The genomics revolution:
an application perspective”. They introduced sequencing machines, sequencing
methods and their applications. The applications over metagenomics were
discussed more precisely since it is our area of interest. It helps in the environment
profiling of micro flora more effectively. Then they discussed about the case
studies; which help us in understanding the effective use of these studies.
Personalised medicine was one interesting area among these case studies.

Then we were directed to their library. It was simply different from other
library. The librarian explained the rules and regulations in the library. The library
is constructed in such a manner that it is tightly correlate with the environment. Its
appearance, peace environment made it simply different from others.

The last session was within the lab, were they explained the computer aided
drug designing. The lead optimization and of certain studied proteins were
demonstrated for us. They chose the vinblastin and like protein as the ligand. They
mainly involve in arrest of cell division. Whole docking procedures were explained
in the practical session.
 We were also taken to various wet lab laboratories in the department. Its was
appreciable that they not only focus on research but in all activites that would
enrich the capabilities of a student there. The walls were all decorated with mind
maps, artistic thoughts, the research works of the students as photo frames and
many others. The whole department seems like an eco friendly nature built inside a
massive green university.

By 4 pm in the afternoon, we wound up our informative and thought

provoking visit to department of computational biology and bioinformatics -
kariavattom and reached our vellayani campus at 5 pm. We express our sincere
gratitude to our beloved teachers and to Dr. Biji, lecturer, and all staff of
Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics - Kariavattom for
opening our minds to recent research efforts in the field of bioinformatics and
computer aided drug design. The Department is situated in the beautiful and green
Kariavattom Campus made greener by the department’s “Trees for 2100 AD”
initiative. The 'face on the wall' remains as a favourite selfie-spot everyone. The
visit has enriched our minds with ideas and fond memories.We had a photograph
session with Dr.Achuthsankar and he pointed out a quote encarved on a rock in the
front garden and enlight us to be a critic.