Asha Singh

CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology

The Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology is located in picturesque town of Palampur (320N,760 E, and 1300m above msl) perched in the lap of majestic snow clad Dhauladhar range of Himalayas in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India,with an annual mean temperature of 190C and annual mean rainfall over 250 cm. IHBT campus can be conveniently reached from local railway station (5 km) and bus stand (3 km) by taxi or bus. Computerised railway reservation facility is available at Palampur. A multidisciplinary group involved in research activities on plant science, phytochemistry, natural colors and essential oil of plant origin and chemical technology to develop bioactive molecules and their synthesis. Chemical modification and formulation of value added products from plant sources. Designing and processing technology, agrotechnology and release of complete production package for important medicinal and aromatic plants for pharmaceutical and essential oil industry. The unit has a 12 ha area for cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants. A 10 Q, 4 Q and 15 kg capacity distillation unit for processing of aromatics. An exclusive 50 kg capacity unit for processing medicinal plants. A series of polyhouses for cultivation of important endangered high altitude medicinal & aromatic plants. The natural chemistry lab is equipped with NMR, HPLCs, GC-MS, rotavapour, sonicator, microwave synthesizer for undertaking studies on chemotypes, chemical characterization and process development for natural colours and dyes. A bioreactor (10 L) for undertaking studies on bio-transformations. For development of products, facilities like industrial rotavapour (50 Q capacity), spray dryer, filter press, solvent extraction unit, water purification unit and ion exchange columns exist.