Core Research & Development areas include
- Development of new climate resilient crop varieties using radiation-induced mutagenesis & hybridization.
As of June 2025, 71 crop varieties have been released and Gazette-notified for commercial cultivation by farmers.
- Improvement of vegetatively propagated plants employing induced mutagenesis in conjunction with tissue culture and molecular approaches.
- Development of biosensors, plant growth regulators, formulating nutrient-enriched fertilizers and superabsorbent hydrogel-based delivery systems to conserve the use of water in irrigation.
- Integrated pest/pathogen management through sterile insect technique and biocontrol agents for crop protection.
- Nisargruna, SHESHA and rapid bio-composting technologies for effective management of organic biodegradable waste.
- Accelerating crop improvement through transgenic approaches and molecular breeding.
- R&D activities related to preservation, disinfestation or hygienisation of food products, and understanding the mechanisms of effect of gamma radiation on food components.
- Development of functional foods, novel food packaging material and biopolymers for food applications.
- Development of rapid detection method for pathogens in food products.
- Development of the technologies/processes for treatment of fruits & vegetables for shelf life extension as well as export.
- Understanding DNA damage repair, replication, redox biology and autophagy process and development of radio-sensitizers/chemo-sensitizers for cancer therapy.
- Design and synthesis of organo-fluorophores and organic electronic molecules, relevant to nuclear sciences and societal benefits.
- Synthesis and development of cost- effective high value nuclear medicine ligands for diagnosis and therapy of cancer and other diseases.
- Asymmetric total synthesis and organocatalytic methods (green chemistry approach) for the synthesis of biologically active compounds.
- R&D activities in the frontier areas of radiation biology, chronic and acute radiation exposure, and radionuclide exposure on mammalian cells, cancer cells, experimental rodents and human health.
- Preclinical and translational research for prevention and mitigation of radiation injury, de-corporation of heavy metals and treatment of inflammatory disorders and cancers.
- Studying macromolecular structures and protein-ligand interactions using biophysical techniques.
- Understanding the cellular and molecular basis of stress response in bacteria, plants and animals.
- Understanding the extraordinary resistance to DNA damage and oxidative stress tolerance in bacteria, and epigenetic regulation of alternate splicing in plants and mammalian cells.
- Development of CRISPR-Cas mediated genome editing technologies for bio-medical applications.
- Studies on heavy metal sequestration using bacteria isolated from uranium mines and cyanobacteria.
- Research and development of novel radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
- Synthesis of substrates from suitable precursors for use in radio-labeling with diagnostic (99mTc) and therapeutic (177Lu, 153Sm, 166Ho,186/188Re, 109Pd, 90Y, 175Yb, 170Tm) radioisotopes in the preparation of agents intended for use as radiopharmaceuticals.
- Rational enzyme engineering to improve their catalytic efficiency for biotechnological applications, such as plastic degradation.
- Structural investigations into cancer-related proteins for development of targeted anticancer therapies.
- Crystallographic studies of gut microbial enzymes and identification of their inhibitors for potential use as adjuvants in cancer treatment.
- Structural insights into viral proteins to develop effective inhibitors for therapeutic purposes.