Department of Biotechnology


OverView

The department started along with the establishment of NIPER-Hajipur from 2007. Biotechnology has application in almost every field of our life including medicine, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, agriculture, environmental sciences, eco-friendly energy generation etc. Right from understanding the cause of disease, host pathogen interactions, progression of disease, and immune system of human body, to drug discovery and drug development, generation of recombinant therapeutic proteins & biopharmaceuticals biotechnology has important roles to play. The Department offers M.S. (Pharm.), Ph.D., and Postdoctoral research programs. The duration of M.S. (Pharm.) is of four semesters out of which the last two semesters are dedicated exclusively for research project. Subjects offered in first and second semesters include Microbial Genetics, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Biostatistics, Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals, Separation Technique, Microbiology, Analysis; Diagnostics and Cell based Screening, Molecular Biology, Immunology and Immunotechnology, Sequence Analysis, Recombinant DNA Technology and Laboratory Experience in Specialized Area. This program covers the wide range of subjects that are important for preparing the students and enhancing their competence towards the needs of growing Pharmaceutical industry in India. The department has currently 19 MS students (2nd year). 7 Ph.D. and 1 research fellow in sponsored project.

Courses offered

  • M.S. (Pharm.) in Biotechnology
  • Ph.D. in Biotechnology
  • Integrated Ph.D. in Biotechnology
  • (Till date 201 students have received M.S. (Pharm) and 12 students have received Ph.D. degree from the department of Biotechnology at NIPER-Hajipur)

Research Areas

Nanozyme development for biomedical applications

Recombinant DNA technology using bacterial, Pichia pastoris and Baculovirus expression systems

Novel approaches to regenerative medicine (tissue engineering)

3D organ development for replacement of animal models in drug screening

Nanoengineering of stem cells

Metallic nanoparticles for neglected tropical diseases and antifungal applications

Quantum dots –based drug delivery for antimicrobial resistance

Advanced biomaterials for treatments of colon and liver inflammations

Infra Structure and facilities:

The department has high-end instrument facilities including Dynamic Light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform-Infra red (FT-IR), Isothermal Calorimeter (ITC), High pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with PDA+UV detector, UV-visible spectrophotometer, Fluorescence Spectrophotometer, Nanoparticle tracking analyzer, Lyophilizer, Electrospining Machine for generation of Nanofibers from biomaterials, RT-PCR, Thermocycler, 3D organ culture facility with clean room, Mammalian cell culture with Biosafety cabinet and CO2 incubator, Laminar hood for bacterial and fungal culture etc.

The department also uses facilities from central instruments facility which comprises of LC-HRMS, Flash Chromatography; GC-MS triple Quadruple, Semi Preparative HPLC, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), FACS-sorter. HPLC with ELSD, RI and fluorescence detector, etc.

The Institute is also in the process of purchasing Fast performance liquid Chromatography (FPLC), Circular Dichroism (CD) spectrometer, UHPLC, LC-MS triple Quadruple, Preparative HPLC, high speed floor model centrifuge, 600 mHz NMR, High resolution confocal microscope etc in next 6 months.

Faculty

1. Dr. Debabrata Mandal (Associate Professor and HoD)

2. Dr. Murali Kumarasamy (Assistant Professor)

3. Dr. Abhishek Sahu (Assistant Professor)

Department of Pharmacy practice


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The Department Pharmacy Practice, at NIPER, HAJIPUR was established in the year 2007. The aim of the Department is to impart patient oriented pharmacy education and train the students in Pharmacy Practice on par with international standards; the primary goal of the department is to train the students preparing for careers in Pharmacy Practice including teaching and research in an academic or industrial setting or in pharmaceutical companies and government research organizations.

Courses offered

The department offers postgraduate M.Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice) and Doctoral (Pharmacy Practice) and post-Doctoral courses programmes. The Pharmacy Practice programme is run in collaboration with Mahavir Cancer Institute & Research Centre & Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) in patna and promote quality education and research with Master's, Doctoral courses.

Objectives:

This course is designed to impart the basic knowledge and skills that are required to practice pharmacy including the provision of pharmaceutical care services to both healthcare professionals and patients in clinical settings.
This course aims to enable the students to understand the different treatment approaches in managing various disease conditions and optimizing drug therapy of a patient by individualizing the treatment plan through evidence-based medicines.
Provide the students an opportunity to learn drug development process especially the phases of clinical trials and also the ethical issues involved in the conduct of clinical research, designing, conducting and managing clinical trials.
The department intends to promote research and service, demonstrating excellence in professional practice and outreach. The department of pharmacy practice is committed to review the patient record and each prescription presented for supply for the purpose of promoting therapeutic appropriateness by indentifying : (i) Over utilization or under utilization (ii) Therapeutic duplication (iii) Drug-disease interactions (iv) Drug-drug interactions (v) Incorrect drug dosage or duration of drug treatment (vi) Drug-allergy interactions (vii) Correlation of availability of drugs (to avoid artificial shortage of drugs) (viii) Clinical abuse/misuse (ix) Promotion of rational drug use (x) Patient counseling.

Research Activities

Clinical and applied Therapeutics

Prescription-Event Monitoring (PEM)

Health related quality of life (HRQOL) & Clinical outcome

Causality assessment of adverse drug reactions

Pharmacovigilance

Bioavailability and Bioequivalence studies

Pharmacoepidemiology & Pharmacoeconomics

HPV and associated clinical outcomes

Evaluation of chemotherapy Induced Disease in cancer patients

Faculty

1. Dr. Sameer Dhingra,Associate Professor and HoD

2. Dr. Krishna Murti, Assistant Professor

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology


Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at NIPER, Hajipur was established in 2018. The department is research-oriented and offering training to postgraduate and PhD students to fulfil the national and international demand of trained pharmacologist. Since its inception, the department aspires to become a recognized Centre for the pharmacological and toxicological screening of products from various sources. The recent development is in the same line by the addition of a state of art laboratory with various instruments to perform basic to advance research. The department has good coordination with other research institutes namely Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Patna, Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna (previous mentor institute) and Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow for various projects and study-related activities.

Program: MS. Pharm (Pharmacology and Toxicology) The duration of the postgraduate course is of 2 years spread over of 4 semesters, out of which the last two semesters are exclusively dedicated for the research project. The course curriculum is designed to cover the areas of the fundamental and regulatory aspect of safety, and efficacy of pharmaceutical products from herbal and synthetic sources. Subjects in first semester: Pathophysiology, General and Experimental Pharmacology, Chemotherapy of Parasitic and Microbial Infections, Separation Techniques, Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, Biotechnology in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biostatistics and Fundamentals of Intellectual Property (IP) and Technology Management.
Subjects in Second semester: Drug Metabolism, Pharmacological Screening and Assays, CNS and Respiratory Pharmacology, Autonomic, CVS, Blood, Renal and GI Pharmacology, Autacoid and Endocrine Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Regulatory Toxicology, Chemotherapy, Immunopharmacology.
Project work in third and fourth semester: Though the research training starts from the first semester onwards, the real research experience is imparted to students by the experienced faculty of NIPER, Hajipur and nearby reputed scientists of other national institutes in the second year. Students are given the freedom to select the research area while the emphasis is given to work in the area of expertise of the faculty.

Research Project at Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology:

Organoid cultures from normal and cancer-prone human tissues: This project will focus on patient-derived cancer organoids as predictors of treatment response. Our in house developed cancer organoids will be used to compare the efficacy of standard-of-care and targeted combination treatments with clinical patient response. Further, a detailed epigenetics studied will be undertaken to understand the mechanisms behind chemo-/radioresistant tumors, and to develop the product to reverse tumor resistance n cancer treatment. Restoring temzolomide sensitivity in glioblastoma: This is NIPER common research project aim to restore temzolomide sensitivity in glioblastoma and to preparation of anti-EPhA2 coated formulation of temozolomide and methylguanine methyltransferase (MGMT) inhibitors for targeted therapy. We have achieved initial success in insilico screening of compounds (Sirt1 activator) and testing a series of compound on temozolomide resistance cell-lines. Further in this project NIPER Hajipur aims to characterize MGMT protein using LC-HRMS, preparing of anti-EPhA2 coated formulation of temozolomide and MGMT inhibitors for targeted therapy and to conduct the pharmacokinetic study of the formulation.

In collaboration with biotechnology, dept of pharmacology and toxicology is developing pharmacologic, genetic and stem cell-based interventions for reversing mood and cognitive deficits in aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes or chemotherapy-induced brain disorders. This project focuses primarily on the functional and mechanistic aspects of stem cell biology and the potential of different types of stem cells for therapeutic applications.

Further, in collaboration pharmacy practice and analytical department, and IGIMS Patna, we aim to identify the simple, cost-effective, and easy-to-use biomarkers for detection, prognosis, and therapeutic assessment of neurological disorders, cancer, and diabetes.

Research in pharmacology and toxicology dept focuses on determining the epigenetic changes in diabetes and diabetic complications, and cardiovascular diseases, and determining whether these changes are sex-linked

Established Research labs at Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology:

Rodent Behaviour Laboratory: The small rodent Behaviour Laboratory at Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology, NIPER Hajipur is equipped with facilities and expertise necessary to enable investigators to quantitatively assess a broad range of rodent behaviour like spatial learning and memory, and object and place recognition memory. The facilities at NIPER Hajipur has established a develop and validate novel paradigms to improve translation of preclinical behavioural results to clinically relevant outcome measures and create better tools for biobehavioural research.
Tissue culture and cells harvesting: The The Tissue Culture Lab provides dedicated labs and resource with instrumentation and expertise to support the establishment and maintenance of cell cultures as invitro models for a variety of tissues at of Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology. The resource is comprised of laboratory spaces that are maintained exclusively for cell culture work. There are two smaller laboratories that each have two biological safety cabinets, water-jacketed, tissue culture incubators, inverted microscopes, clinical centrifuges, water baths, and refrigerator/freezers. A larger facility has essentially the same equipment but with three biological safety cabinets and a larger number of incubators.
Rodent Stereotaxic Surgery and cell transpiration: Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology is equipped with Stereotactic neurosurgery technique used in pre-clinical research to engraft a needle or electrode at a pre-defined location in the rodent's.

Currently Grant Funded at Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology:

1.Principal Investigator, Dr. Vipan Parihar: Endocannabinoids for cognitive aging and neurodegeneration, funded by Dept of Science and Technology, SERB Start-up Research Grant. Total amount Rs 32 Lakhs. Year 2022-2024.. This project focused on the analysing age-related modifications of the CSF proteome, from subjects with AD and amnestic mild cognitive impairment.
2.Principal Investigator, Dr. Vipan Parihar:
“Efficient process development strategies for prevalent “Rare disease” drugs”. Funded by Dept of Science and Technology, and Dept of Pharmaceutical Govt of India. Research project: Rare disease multicentric program grant. Total amount funded: Rs 70 Lakh.

Faculty

1. Dr. Vipan Kumar Parihar,Associate Professor and Dean

2. Dr. Nitesh Kumar, Assistant Professor

3. Dr. Sanjiv Singh, Assistant Professor

Department Of Pharmaceutics


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The Department of Pharmaceutics was established in 2021, with the aim of quality research in pharmaceutical formulation and drug delivery which improves the learning and research abilities of the scholars. The research in this department imparts the quality of generic and specialty medicines. The department offers M.S (Pharm) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) programs in Pharmaceutics. The department has proficient faculty and scholars continuously engaged in research activities for better delivery of therapeutics for improving safety and efficacy.The Department of Pharmaceutics is actively engaged in various research activities such as common research plans, industry-oriented research projects, and inter-departmental and inter-institutional research projects. The department has excellent infrastructural facilities planned for several high-end pharmaceutical characterization equipment including HPLC, BET, µ disso, LD, FTIR FPA CI, NTA, DSC, DLS, Rheometer, Texture analyzer, SPFA, UV-DRS-NIR spectrometer, Dissolution test apparatus (Type I, II, and IV) and Disintegration tester.The manufacturing facilities in the department include a wide range of cGMP dryers (FB and Lyo), advanced fluid bed processing, Mini Press II, Auto-coater, advanced milling, and particle size engineering, USFDA Medical Device Class I stability chambers, capsule manufacturing and filling facilities, semisolid manufacturing facilities, nano-enabled formulation development, and scale-up facilities.

Courses offered

  • M.S. (Pharm) in Pharmaceutics
  • Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics
  • Integrated Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics

Objectives:

To do cutting-edge research in pharmaceutics and drug delivery, which offers patient-friendly, accessible, and affordable quality pharmaceutical formulations for global healthcare needs.

Research Activities

Departmental research projects are focused on formulation development of modified release systems, nano-formulations for targeted drug delivery, topical formulations, peptide delivery systems, generic product development, etc. The research activities of the department are planned in different areas which include

Conventional, modified-release, site-specific, and targeted drug delivery systems.

Novel manufacturing techniques

Nano pharmaceutical delivery systems.

Peptide drug delivery systems.

Particle engineering and solubility enhancement of poorly water-soluble drugs.

Integrating QbD (DoE) approach in formulation development.

In-vitro & ex-vivo / in-vivo characterization of API & formulations.

Physiological-Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling and Simulations

Stability testing of API & formulations

Manufacturing facilities

The Pharmaceutics department has planned to develop advanced facilities for formulation research and manufacturing as per GMP requirements for quality research in areas of oral drug delivery, nano-enabled formulations, Long Acting Injectables (LAIs), and topical formulations.

Industrial Collaborations

Department has signed MoU with pharmaceutical industries such as Zuventus Health Ltd., Sirek Research, Biopin Ambal, and Divya Patent firm to strengthen the collaborative, research, sponsored / consultancy projects, training-placement, and internship activities, as well as for exchanging knowledge through industry expert talks.

Faculty

1. Prof. M. Rajkumar , Professor and HoD

2. Dr. Vinod L. Gaikwad , Assistant Professor

3. Dr. Lalit Kumar , Assistant Professor

Department Of Pharmaceutical Analysis


OverView

The department of pharmaceutical analysis at NIPER-Hajipur started in the academic year (ACY) 2021-22 with M.S (Pharm.) and PhD degree in pharmaceutical analysis. The department also designated to serve as central analytical facility for other departments as facility support and inter-departmental research initiatives. The pharmaceutical analysis specialization focusses the science and skills in the new analytical method development and validationof procedure using different analytical principles like chromatography, spectroscopy, thermal methods etc., trouble shooting of analytical procedure, quality control of pharmaceuticals/nutraceuticals/phytopharmaceuticals. Our department striving for collaborative research in proteomics area for drug target validation, biomarkers discovery, chemoproteomics and post translational modification. In addition, the department also participating in establishing of “centre of excellence in biologics”for analytical characterization, stability and release. The department is pioneer in establishing analytical quality by design (AQbD) at par with the requirement of ICHQ14, stability studies, genotoxicity profiling, preclinical pharmacokinetics etc. The departmententitled to implement GMP/GLP practices.

Infra-Structure

The laboratory is established with adequate space including, Change room, Wet analysis laboratory, Sample preparation area, Central facility – 1 (LC-MS(Orbitrap)/ Proteomics lab), Central facility-2 (LC-MS/MS (QQQ), GC-MS/MS), Hazard Chemical zone (Fume Hood area), Chemicals storage area. The Laboratory implemented the minimum GLP requirements, SOPs, fire safety requirement, Log-books, exit-entry record, sample/standards storage record, calibration/maintenance record, PPE, Hazard disposal etc.

Quality Policy

Committed to excel in analytical technology through adopting advanced technologies and shall endeavour to ensure the precise outcome for societal needed research in collaboration with stakeholders of health professionals.

Courses offered

  • M.S (Pharm.) in Pharmaceutical Analysis (2 Years)
  • PhD in Pharmaceutical Analysis
  • Integrated PhD in Pharmaceutical Analysis (5 Years)

Research Activities

LC-HRMS based proteomics profiling of microbial, animal tissue and human serum (ICMR-RMRIMS, Patna)

Metabolomics Data base development of C. elegans (Collaboration: Alagappa University).

Natural product profiling / identification secondary metabolite (Common research Plan: NIPER-G)

Nitrosamine control in Pharmaceutical products (NIPER-K).

Proteomics based drug mechanism study, and microbial/ cancer drug resistance.

Industry relevant analytical method development using LC-HRMS, HPLC/Prep. HPLC using AQbD/QSRR/ICHQ14.

Faculty and Research Team

1. Dr P Ramalingam, Associate Professor and Head i/c

2. Dr Rahul G, Scientist Grade-I

3. Dr Anupam Jana, Scientist Grade – II

4. Dr Swain P, Adjunct Faculty, NIPER-K

5. Dr Rahul Rathod, Mylan Laboratories, Hyderabad, Adjunct Faculty-Industry

Department of Regulatory Toxicology


Department of Regulatory Toxicology at NIPER, Hajipur was established in 2022. Since its inception, thedepartment is specialised in training post graduate students for Industry need keeping a focus on safely oftherapy at prime importance. It deals with training students for evaluating toxicity of NCE and drugspreclinically and clinically. The department is equipped with a state of art laboratory with various instrumentsto perform basic to advance research in toxicology with special focuss on molecular mechanism of toxicity.The department is working in coordination with Department of Pharmacology and toxicology inside thepremises and other research institutes namely Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Patna,Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna (previous mentor institute) and IGIMS,Patna for various projects and study-related activities.

Program: MS. Pharm (Regulatory Toxicology) The duration of the postgraduate course is of 2 years spreadover of 4 semesters, out of which the last two semesters are exclusively dedicated for the research project.The course curriculum is designed to cover the areas of the fundamental and regulatory aspect of safety, and efficacy of pharmaceutical products from herbal and synthetic sources. Subjects in first semester: Pathophysiology, General and Experimental Pharmacology, Chemotherapy of Parasitic andMicrobial Infections, Separation Techniques, Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, Biotechnology inPharmaceutical Sciences, Biostatistics and Fundamentals of Intellectual Property (IP) and TechnologyManagement.
Subjects in Second semester: Drug Metabolism, Pharmacological Screening and Assays, CNS andRespiratory Pharmacology, Autonomic, CVS, Blood, Renal and GI Pharmacology, Autacoid and EndocrinePharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Regulatory Toxicology, Chemotherapy, Immunopharmacology.
Project work in third and fourth semester: Though the research training starts from the first semester onwards, the realresearch experience is imparted to students by the experienced faculty of NIPER, Hajipur and nearby reputedscientists of other national institutes in the second year. Students are given the freedom to select the researcharea while the emphasis is given to work in the area of expertise of the faculty.

The broad area of research includes:

Developing safety biomarkers in drug development, and pre-clinical risk assessment in regulatory toxicology.

Reproductive, mutagenicity, genotoxicity and carcinogenicity studies.

Toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics profile of nanoformulations / nanoparticles

Developing organoids (3D culture) for toxicology and genetic toxicology

Studying organ-specific toxicity using transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics.

Developing regulatory framework for nanoformulations, AYUSH drugs, and environmental pollutants.

Toxicity, mechanism and health effects of heavy metals, and Develop a QSTR model to predict neurotoxicity.

Toxicological studies of drugs and nanoformulations from herbal and synthetic sourcesNeurotoxicologyCardiovascular safety

Currently Grant Funded at Dept. of Regulatory and Toxicology:

1.Principal Investigator, Dr. Vipan Parihar: Endocannabinoids for cognitive aging and neurodegeneration, funded by Dept of Science and Technology, SERB Start-up Research Grant. Total amount Rs 32 Lakhs. Year 2022-2024.. This project focused on the analysing age-related modifications of the CSF proteome, from subjects with AD and amnestic mild cognitive impairment.
2.Principal Investigator, Dr. Vipan Parihar:
“Efficient process development strategies for prevalent “Rare disease” drugs”. Funded by Dept of Science and Technology, and Dept of Pharmaceutical Govt of India. Research project: Rare disease multicentric program grant. Total amount funded: Rs 70 Lakh.

Faculty

1. Dr. Vipan Kumar Parihar,Associate Professor and Dean

2. Dr. Nitesh Kumar, Assistant Professor

3. Dr. Sanjiv Singh, Assistant Professor