Lok Ranjan Bhatta, PhD
Coordinator
Chief Scientific Officer
Email: [email protected]
Phone-+ 977 -1- 5253715 ext 268
Background
Biological resource laboratory conducts research on various aspects of biological resources. Ongoing major programs of this laboratory are nutritional and phytochemical analysis of commercially important wild edible fruits and mushrooms. Other activities of the laboratory include: Study on biological diversity and carbon stock; medicinal and aromatic plants; mushroom technology; endophytic fungi, dendrochronology and herbal formulations.
Current Programs
Wild Edible Fruits Research & Development Program
• Document & evaluate the antioxidant activity and nutritional composition of wild edible fruits
• Interact with concerned stakeholders at local level on utilization practices and trade of commercially important WEFs
• Value addition of active and technically feasible candidates
Biological Diversity and Conservation
This program focuses on the study of biological diversity of Churia and Mahabharat ranges of Nepal. Sustainable Management utilization and In situ Cultivation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) for Biodiversity Conservation : Nepal is rich in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs). Various human-mediated activities, coupled with prevailing climate change and natural hazards have put such plant biodiversity under threat. It is therefore necessary to conserve biodiversity via ex situ and in situ cultivation practices. Sustainable harvesting and In situ cultivation management of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) would be an ideal intervention that would help biodiversity conservation that also contributes in poverty alleviation. Wide and wild collection of MAPs is one of the major problems of Churia forests of Nepal that has led to MAPs depletion causing forest disturbance consequently affecting biodiversity conservation. Therefore, exploration of alternative means of income generation scheme from locally available resources has become an important aspect to aid the livelihood of these ethnic groups. To fulfill such needs and supporting the SDG goal numbers 1 and 15, NAST has initiated ‘sustainable management and in situ cultivation of MAPs across different regions of Churia forests providing technical and financial support for the cultivation initiation. This program has been carried out under NAST initiative at Makwanpur and Mahendranagar districts of Nepal.
Research Team
1. Dr. Deepa Shree Rawal - [email protected]; [email protected]
2. Dr. Anjana Giri - [email protected] , [email protected]
Development of Herbal Based Polymeric Micro/Nanoformulations
The program is focused on synthesis and characterization of herbal based polymeric micro/nanoemulsions with potential application in biomedical and cosmetics using locally available bio-resources
Mushroom Technology Research and Development
Mushroom is the least explored bioresource of Nepal in compared to plant and animal. Nepal has all the requisites of low cost labour, congenial climatic conditions for year round artificial cultivation of wide variety of mushrooms, and other inputs to become a leading mushroom producer. Even today only a handful of species are grown commercially. Current domestic production is insufficient. Mushroom industry couldn’t have got momentum and is still in state of infancy. Thus, the major goal of this program is to diversify the mushroom portfolio of the country and promote the domestic mushroom production/industry. Exploration and documentation of wild mushrooms, mycochemical/pharmacological screening, value-addition and product diversification, farming technology development of indigenous mycorrhizal mushrooms, domestication of highly prized medicinal or culinary mushrooms, and molecular barcoding of promising indigenous mushrooms are the major activities of this program.
Nepal Fungal Database (NFD)
Nepal Fungal Database (NFD) is an open access digital database aims to collect, collate, analyze, verify and authenticate the data/information on fungal science of Nepal. It also aims to build a vibrant and active network among the stakeholders at national, regional and global level. This is of its first kind of fungal internet portal in Nepal that provides information on fungal species recorded within the territory and other state-of-the-art information in the field of mycology. The database is a national asset and managed by Biological Resource Unit (BRU), NAST.
Dendroecology and dendroclimatology
Rise in temperature due to global warming is affecting forest ecosystems worldwide. This has mostly affected vegetation at higher altitudes where the growth is particularly limited by low temperatures. Impacts of climate change have been visible at the tree line ecotone around the world with many reports of upward shift of treeline species. Study focuses on the impact of climate change on tree line species like Rhododendron sp. etc
Long term climatic data is needed to have an understanding of the past climate. Paucity of long term instrumental climatic data is one of the major constraints for climate change studies in Nepal. Tree rings can be used as proxy sources of past climatic data. Main aim is to assess growth climate relationship and to reconstruct past climate.
Endophytic fungi
In the world, the search for new antibiotics to overcome the growing human problems of drugs resistance in microorganisms is ongoing. Endophytes constitute a remarkably diverse group of micro-organisms ubiquitous in plants and are being recognized as sources for new secondary metabolites with useful biological activities. Realizing the capability of microorganisms, nowadays, research has been geared towards isolating and screening microbes from unique environment niche for the discovery of novel metabolites. In Nepal, to date only limited studies have been carried out to explore the potential of endophytic fungi isolated from plants of high altitude region for the production bioactive secondary metabolites. Our aim is to study diversity of endophytic fungi and their antimicrobial activity.
Team Members
1. Dr. Lok Ranjan Bhatt - [email protected], [email protected]
2. Dr. Anjana Giri - [email protected] , [email protected]