BRIC-IBSD Promoting bioresources of NER for development of phytopharmaceuticals developing Bioeconomy

Dr W Mohendro Singh *

BRIC-IBSD Promoting bioresources of NER :: Pix - TSE

BRIC-Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (BRIC -IBSD) is promoting biore-sources of North Eastern Region (NER) for the development of bioeconomy. BRIC-IBSD is synergising different research areas including Phytopharmaceutical Mission, Ethno-pharmacology & Drug Development; Microbial resources, traditional foods; Animal resources, Medicinal Plant resources for their scientific validation, value addition to propel innovations for development of bioresources leading to drug discovery and development with leadership of Prof Pulok Kumar Mu-kherjee, Director, IBSD, who is an expert in the field and one of the word’s renowned scientist in explo- ring bioresources with their chemical and therapeutic validation.

For the promotion of bioresources, BRIC-IBSD has established Phytophar-maceutical Mission in NER. Under this programme, BRIC-IBSD is working on the documentation, scientific validation and evalua- tion of traditional healthcare practices and bioresources to promote the drugs from our ancestors, drugs from nature and to explore the tradition to translation with innovation.

This includes

(i) exploring the traditional healthcare practices, bio-resources used in these practices and their scientific validation with translational components

(ii) to establish the mechanism of action of traditional medicines through SYNERGY research, network pharmacology, metabolomics and genomics approaches

(iii) value-addition to the traditional knowledge leading to the translational and transformational research through bioresources

(iv) use of bioresources for socio economic development of the North Eastern Region

(v) encouraging linkages between traditional healers and the scientific communities for benefit sharing, promotion of start-ups with Ethno Entre- preneurships under ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’

(vi) capacity buildings, training, promotion and development of bioresources of NER for Viksit Bharat.

For the development of phytopharmaceuticals, BRIC-IBSD is working on therapeutic areas like anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti- fungal, anti-microbial resistance (AMR), anti-diabetic, anti-arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, neurodegenerative disorders, gastro-protectives and immuno-modulation.

In this context, BRIC-IBSD is working on documentation, extracts preparation, chemical profiling, marker analysis, in-vitro & in-vivo analysis, metabolomics, synergy & network pharmacology, toxicity & safety and development of formulations.

BRIC-IBSD has documented huge numbers of traditional medicine of NERand developed data- bases for the plant species involved and their therapeutic claims. BRIC-IBSD has performed chemical profiling of several medicinal plants and developed validated methods for quality evaluation of many medicinal plants like Parkia roxburghii, Ficus cunia, black rice, Potentilla ful-gens, Flemingia procum- bens, Paris polyphylla, Kaempferia parviflora, Elsholtziasp., Cinnamon sp., Cinnamon tamala, Swertia chirayita, Capsicumspp.and many others from NER.

BRIC-IBSD has performed metabolomics studies of several medicinal plants with potential therapeutic effects for establishing their mechanism of action with network pharmacology and synergistic study with the team of IBSD with leadership of Prof.Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director, IBSD and team.

Phytopharmaceuticals are complex mixtures of bioactive compounds, making it challenging to elu- cidate their mechanisms of action and pharmacological profiles. Understanding and harnessing these synergistic effects can lead to more potent and effective treatments. This initiative aligns with the broader goals of personalized medicine and has the potential to revolutionize treatment regimens for complex diseases.

In this context, IBSD has initiated research on Synergy & Network Pharmacology and established facilities at IBSD, Imphal and Shillong Centre. Considering these leads, BRIC-IBSD is exploring traditional health- care practices and bio-resources of NER for the development of phytopharmaceuticals. Traditional medicines are generally perceived to have a favorable safety profile compared to synthetic drugs.

By focusing on phyto-compounds, this approach may offer treatments with fewer adverse effects. By incorporating traditional knowledge into modern healthcare practices, we can benefit from centuries of wisdom and experience.

Personalized herbal medicine can be integrated into conventional medical practices, offering comple- mentary or alternative options for patients seeking a holistic approach to managing many diseases. Based on these leads, BRIC-IBSD has validated and developed two formulations based on the traditionally used medicinal plants of NER.

BRIC-IBSD is work on the development of genomic resources for these medicinal plant species using transcriptomics and geno-mics approaches to identify genes/ enzymes and to explore biosynthetic pathways for therapeutically important metabolites and characterization of regulatory genes for metabolic engineering to enhance the secondary metabolites.

In this context, IBSD has sequenced transcriptomes for medicinal plants including Swertia chirayita, Valeriana jatamansi, Capsi-cumspp., Paris polyphylla, Kaempferia parvifloraetc. IBSD is working on the development of DNA barcodes for authentication and identification of medicinal plants in NER.

BRIC-IBSD is working on metabolomics and transcriptomics analysis of black rice and Chilli varieties of NER for their therapeutical properties. In this context, IBSD is exploring the bitter plants of NER consumed as food in Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizo-ram and evaluated for their anti-diabetic potential.

With esteemed leadership of Prof Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, team IBSD is working on different areas and exploring a large number of Bacteria, Actinomycetes, Yeast and Fungi from different unique ecological niches of NE India viz., cave ecosystem, forest ecosystem, fermented food, endophytes, hot-spring, cold spring, lime stone deposits, high altitude ecosystems including wild mushrooms etc which are very effective for the Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) study.

IBSD has documented large number of indigenous traditional knowledge associated with traditional fermented foods of NER and developed starter culture consortium and controlled fermentation processes for safe, quality, and healthy products. IBSD is also working on documentation of edible insects of NER which are used as food and medicine.

In this context, IBSD is exploring edible insects for therapeutical potential and nutraceutical value. BRIC-IBSD has documented the unique bioresources of NER and published many books including Compendium of Antiviral Medicinal Plants of North Eastern region of India, Flora of Manipur, Medicinal Plants of Manipur etc.

For the promotion of these bioresources, IBSD has organized International Bioresource Conclave along with the 22ndCongress of the International Society for Ethnopharmacology and the 10thCongress of Society for Ethnopharmacology (ISE SFEC-2023) at the City Convention Centre, Imphal, Manipur with the theme “Reimagine Ethno-pharmacology: Globalization of Traditional Medicine''.

This International Bioresource Conclave and Ethnophar-macology Congress was organized in collaboration with Society for Ethnophar-macology, India and International Society for Ethnopharmacology, Switzerland. This congress highlighted different initiatives for promotion of bioresources and local traditional medicines of NER where eminent scientists from 35 countries and from all the states of India participated.

BRIC-IBSD is organizing many other outreach activities in NER for the promotion of bioresources including G20 event on Circular Bioeco-nomy, traditional healer’s business meets, development of women bioentre- preneurship, ethno-entrepreneurship, and industry- connect programmes.

Promotion of these bioresources will not only help to explore drugs for different ailments from natural resources and will help in societal upliftment, entrepreneurship development and development of bio-economy from bioresources of this region.