Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development
Imphal

Mandate

The mandate of the institute is the development of bioresources and their sustainable use through biotechnological interventions for the socio-economic growth of the North-Eastern Region (NER).

Campus

The institute is located in Imphal, Manipur.

Research Focus

IBSD is synergizing different research verticals, including phytopharmaceutical mission, ethnopharmacology, traditional healthcare practices, drug discovery, plant resources, microbial resources, animal resources, and Eco-restoration, water quality management and surveillance to boost the bio-economy with the development of processes/ products/ technologies from the bioresources of NER.

Human Resource

The institute currently has 16 scientists and around 100 Research Fellows, supported by 8 technical staff and 7 administrative staff at the institute.

Key Scientific Achievements

Major achievements in the last 5 years (2017-22) are as follows:

• IBSD is working on documentation, evaluation, and validation of traditional healthcare practices of NER to promote the drugs from our ancestors and from nature and explore the tradition of translation with innovation. Exploring the traditional healthcare practices and the medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) used in these practices of the NER and their scientific validation with the translational component.
• Established linkages between traditional healers and the scientific communities for benefit sharing and promotion of start-ups with Ethno-Entrepreneurships based on the development of herbal medicine-based products, fermented foods, edible mushrooms, and insects.
• Established a Microbial Repository Centre with the collection of Bacteria, Actinomycetes, Yeast, and Fungi from different unique ecological niches of NER viz., cave ecosystem, forest ecosystem, fermented food, endophytes, hot-spring, cold spring, limestone deposits, high altitude ecosystems, etc.
• To promote Start-ups in NER, setup Bioincubators Nurturing Entrepreneurship for Scaling Technologies (BioNEST), Node Meghalaya to develop women entrepreneurship through orchid floriculture in Meghalaya. The program's major focus is capacity building and training women bio-entrepreneurs and farmers.
• Initiated Household Water Quality Management through Testing, Surveillance, and Technological Interventions with water testing facilities for drinking water, wastewater, etc. in Manipur and Meghalaya. This is in association with the respective State PHED Department for water quality monitoring, surveillance, and development of a rapid water test kit for monitoring water quality.
• The researchers at IBSD have received key recognitions such as being elected Fellows of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), Biotech Research Society, India (BRSI), Ramalingaswami Fellowship, and awards from International Foundation for Environmental & Ecology, National Environment Science Academy, etc.
• The institute participated in outreach and public engagement events by organizing several seminars/webinars and workshops, such as the Global Bio-India 2021 Road Show, Science Setu webinar series, farmers' training workshops, etc.