Core Research & Development areas include

1. 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.
2. Improvement of vegetatively propagated plants employing induced mutagenesis in conjunction with tissue culture and molecular approaches.
3. Development of biosensors, plant growth regulators, formulating nutrient-enriched fertilizers and superabsorbent hydrogel-based delivery systems to conserve the use of water in irrigation.
4. Integrated pest/pathogen management through sterile insect technique and biocontrol agents for crop protection.
5. Nisargruna, SHESHA and rapid bio-composting technologies for effective management of organic biodegradable waste.
6. Accelerating crop improvement through transgenic approaches and molecular breeding.
7. R&D activities related to preservation, disinfestation or hygienisation of food products, and understanding the mechanisms of effect of gamma radiation on food components.
8. Development of functional foods, novel food packaging material and biopolymers for food applications.
9. Development of rapid detection method for pathogens in food products.
10. Development of the technologies/processes for treatment of fruits & vegetables for shelf life extension as well as export.
11. Understanding DNA damage repair, replication, redox biology and autophagy process and development of radio-sensitizers/chemo-sensitizers for cancer therapy.
12. Design and synthesis of organo-fluorophores and organic electronic molecules, relevant to nuclear sciences and societal benefits.
13. Synthesis and development of cost- effective high value nuclear medicine ligands for diagnosis and therapy of cancer and other diseases.
14. Asymmetric total synthesis and organocatalytic methods (green chemistry approach) for the synthesis of biologically active compounds.
15. 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.
16. Preclinical and translational research for prevention and mitigation of radiation injury, de-corporation of heavy metals and treatment of inflammatory disorders and cancers.
17. Studying macromolecular structures and protein-ligand interactions using biophysical techniques.
18. Understanding the cellular and molecular basis of stress response in bacteria, plants and animals.
19. Understanding the extraordinary resistance to DNA damage and oxidative stress tolerance in bacteria, and epigenetic regulation of alternate splicing in plants and mammalian cells.
20. Development of CRISPR-Cas mediated genome editing technologies for bio-medical applications.
21. Studies on heavy metal sequestration using bacteria isolated from uranium mines and cyanobacteria.
22. Research and development of novel radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
23. 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.
24. Rational enzyme engineering to improve their catalytic efficiency for biotechnological applications, such as plastic degradation.
25. Structural investigations into cancer-related proteins for development of targeted anticancer therapies.
26. Crystallographic studies of gut microbial enzymes and identification of their inhibitors for potential use as adjuvants in cancer treatment.
27. Structural insights into viral proteins to develop effective inhibitors for therapeutic purposes.