Biography
Dr. Sourish Bhattacharya
Dr. Sourish Bhattacharya
Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, India
Title: Natural preservatives for natural products: Bacterial ε-polylysine for microalgal pigments
Abstract: 

Present day need for replacing chemically synthesized pigments is gradually increasing wherein microalgae is a promising source for phycobiliproteins. However, due to its sensitivity towards light, temperature and pH, it gets easily denatured and there is a need to develop an effective natural preservative for preparing stable phycobiliproteinsfor their possible application as colorants in food industries. Phycobiliproteins are considered to have antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and hepatoprotective properties. Phycobiliproteins are extensively used as natural colorants in food and cosmetics, fluorescent neoglycoproteins, probes for single particle fluorescence and imaging fluorescent applications in clinical and immunological analysis. Preservation of such high value and sensitive product with chemicals possess certain side-effects to human being. 

In the present study, effect of natural preservative ε-polylysine and chemical preservative citric acid on the stability of C-PC and C-PE at 4±2°C was studied. Percentage loss of C-PE and C-PC content and effect of pH and fluorescence on C-PC and C-PE was studied. 0.02% ε-polylysine (w/v) was found to be optimum for storage of C-PC and C-PE at 4±2°C and lesser loss of C-PC and C-PE content as compared to citric acid for its storage up to 8 days without any change in colour and pH. The amount of C-PC and C-PE left in the solution containing ε-polylysine was 90.5 and 95.24% respectively.

Biography: 
Dr. Sourish Bhattacharya has her expertise in microbial synthesis of biopolymers for biomedical applications. The derived ε-PL may be conjugated with other biopolymers for its application as water absorbable hydrogels, drug carriers, and anticancer agent. Further, it will also provide the knowledge pertaining to the synthesis pathway of the microbe for producing such biopolymers which can replace the chemical synthesis process. Sourish Bhattacharya has completed his B. Tech in Biotechnology from West Bengal University of Technology and M.Tech in Fermentation Technology from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. He worked as Research Executive at Innovative Creations Business Modules Pvt. Ltd., India for 2 years. Presently he is working as Junior Scientist at Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. He has published 15 research works in reputed international journals, 2 book chapters and 2 patents. He also owns one patent on Marine microalgal biofuel. He is currently working on various areas involving microbial synthesis of ε-polylysine as well as for biomedical applications.