Dr. Meenu Katoch

Senior Scientist

Fermentation and Microbial Biotechnology Division

CSIR – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine,Canal Road, Jammu – 180001
Email: mkatoch@iiim.res.in

Profile

Bio Sketch

I was born in a business family, it was a real challenge to catch an altogether different bus of “science”, but it was made possible due to the encouragement of my brother and later on by my husband. Math is my favourite subject. I am blessed with a daughter.

Regarding science, I worked on novel expression system for filamentous fungus from 2004-2008 with Biocon Pvt. Ltd. During the last eleven years, I am working on the following area.

Microbiology, Exploration of the microbes for natural products conventionally or through elicitation; their bioactivities and biosynthesis; their production through cloning and expressing the biosynthetic gene cluster in heterologous hosts.
Discovery of antimicrobial and antibiofilm inhibitors and their mechanism of action
Development of technologies for warehouse storage of grains, fruits, and vegetables

Education

Degree	Subjects	University	Qualifying Year
Ph.D.	Biotechnology	CSIR-IHBT and Hamdard University	2003
M.Sc.	Biotechnology	Deemed University IVRI, Izatnagar	1993
B. Sc.	ZBC	IT College, Lucknow University	1987

Position Held

Position Held	Period	Organization
DBT CREST Fellow	2014-2015	UNSW, Australia
Senior Scientist	2011-continue	CSIR-IIIM, Jammu
Scientist	2007-2011	CSIR-IIIM, Jammu
Scientist B	2004-2007	CSIR-IIIM, Jammu

Area of Expertise

Microbiology, Molecular biology

Project Involved / Ongoing Projects

Projects

Bioprospection and development of technologies for the production of bioactive molecules from the microbial wealth of north western region
Nucleoside as biofilm inhibitors of bacteria and to understand the underlying mechanism of action (Health Sciences)
An essential oil based formulation for post harvest storage of fruits (Agri Nutri Biotech)
Exploration of Myxobacteria for novel antimicrobials against gram negative human pathogens
Discovery of novel anticancer molecule from epigenetically modified fungus associated with Brugmansia aurea.

Publications and Patents

Publications

Authors	Title	Journal
Singh G, Singh J, Singamaneni V, Singh SK, Gupta P, Katoch M^#*	Serine-glycine-betaine, a novel dipeptide from an endophyte Macrophomina phaseolina: Isolation, bioactivity and biosynthesis	J Appl Microbiol 2020
Singh G, Verma MK, Katoch M^#*	Antimicrobial activities and mechanism of actionof Cymbopogon khasianus (Munro ex Hackel)Bor essential oil	BMC Comp. Med Therapies 2020
Katoch M^#*, Singh D, Kapoor KK, Vishwakarma RA	Trichoderma lixii (IIIM-B4), an endophyte of Bacopa monnieri L. producing peptaibols	BMC Microbiol 2019;
Arora N, Kumar S, Satti N, Ali A, Gupta P, Katoch M^*	A strain of Streptomyces sp. isolated from rhizospheric soil of Crataegus oxycantha producing Nalidixic acid, a synthetic antibiotic.	J Appl Microbiol 2018; 124, 1393-1400.
Singh G, Katoch A, Razak M, Goswami A, Katoch M^*	Bioactive and biocontrol potential of endophytic fungi associated with Brugmansia aurea Lagerh.	FEMS Microbiol Letters 2017;364,fnx194
Wani Naiem; Singh G, Shankar S; Sharma S, Katoch M^*, Rai R	Short Hybrid Peptides Incorporating β- and γ-Amino Acids as Antimicrobial Agents.	Peptides 2017; 97,46-53.
Katoch M^#*, Bindu K, Phull S, Verma MK	An endophytic Fusarium sp. isolated from Monarda citriodora producing industrially important plant like Volatile Organic Compound-hexanal.	Microbiology 2017;163:840–847
Katoch M^#, Mazmouz R, Chau R, Pearson Leanne A., Pickford R, Neilan BA,	Heterologous production of cyanobacterial mycosporine-like amino acids mycosporine-ornithine and mycosporine-lysine in E. coli.	Appl and Environ Microbiol 2016; 82:6167-6173.
Pathania AS, Guru SK, Verma MK, Sharma C, Abdullah ST, Malik F, Chandra S, Katoch M^*, Bhushan S	Disruption of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling casxade and induction of apoptosis in HL-60 cells by an essential oil from Monarda citriodora.	Food Chem Toxicol 2013; 62:246-254.
Sharma, R., Katoch, M^#*., Govindappa, N., Srivastava, P. S., Shastry, K., Qazi G. N.	Evaluation of Catalase promoter for expressing alkaline xylanase gene in the Aspergillus niger.	FEMS Microbiol Letters 2012; 327, 33-40.

Patents

Inventors/ Contributors	Title	Description	Year
Meenu Katoch, Ruchika Sharma, Gulam Nabi Qazi	Inducible Catalase R Promoter Useful for Expressing Foreign Genes in Fungus	Present invention discloses an inducible promoter being derived from a gene encoding catalase in A. niger for expression of a protein in filamentous fungus, preferably Aspergillus. It has not so far described and used for heterologous protein production.	2012
Meenu Katoch, Gulam Nabi Qazi	Glucose Oxidase Promoter For Use In Aspergillus	Present invention discloses an effective promoter being derived from a gene encoding glucose oxidase in A. niger for expression of a protein in filamentous fungus, preferably Aspergillus. The A. niger glucose oxidase is an oxido-reductase enzyme whose promoter is not so far described and used for heterologous protein production.	2009
Bikram Singh, Meenu Katoch, Raja Ram, Aizaz Azghar Zaidi	Aescin: a new antiviral agent from Indian horse chestnut (Aesculus indica) 6 countries	The present invention relates to a composition containing aescin obtained from Indian horse chestnut (Aesculus indica) as an antiviral agent. More particularly this invention relates to β-aescin present in horse chestnut (Aesculus indica seeds) which is a natural source to inhibit cucumber mosaic virus. The antiviral activity of β-aescin against CMV is better than Amantadine, 2- Thiouracil, Zidovudine and Acyclovir, commercial antiviral products available in the market. Another usage of the present invention is meaningful utilization of Indian horse chestnut (Aesculus indica seeds) growing wild in temperate region for production of β-aescin, which has been identified as a potent antiviral agent.	2007-09
Meenu Katoch, Raja Ram, Aizaz Azghar Zaidi	Development of diagnostic kit for the detection of Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus	The present invention relates to development of diagnostic kit for the detection of Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus.	2002
Meenu Katoch, Raja Ram, Aizaz Azghar Zaidi	A process for developing Diagnostic Kit for detection of Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus in commercial crop	The present invention relates to a process for developing Diagnostic Kit for detection of Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus in commercial crop.	2002

Awards / Honours

Awards and Honours

DBT fellowship for M.Sc. 1989-1992
National Eligibility Test Qualified 1998 and 1999
DBT-CREST fellowship for (Formerly Biotechnology Overseas Associateship-BTOA) 2012-13
Human Resource Development Scheme of Department of Health Research for Fellowship/ Training in foreign Institutes 2012-13 (Not availed)
DST Travel grant from for FEMS Conference 2015-16 (Not availed)
DBT Travel grant from for FEMS Conference 2015-16
Woman Scientist Award by International Society of bioinformatics and biotechnology. 2017

Group

Students

S NO.	Name	Area of Interest	Position
	Gurpreet Singh	Bioprospection of fungal endophytes for the production of bioactive molecules Discovery of antimicrobial and antibiofilm inhibitors and their mechanism of action	SRF_ICMR
	Arushi Sharma	Isolation and exploration of Myxobacteria for the bioactive secondary metabolites	SRF_ICMR
	Roohi Sharma	Diversity of micro-flora associated with Trapa natans Exploration of these microbes for pain killer molecule.	JRF
	Supriti Sandhu	Diversity of LABs associated with Finger millet Exploration of these microbes for iron absorption.	JRF
	Arjun Singh	Natural product from the endophytes associated with Bacopa monnieri through elicitation approach.	JRF