This core unit of the VFIC functions towards understanding health benefits of bioactive/phytonutrients of vegetables, fruits and nuts.This facility has instruments required for biochemical analysis for understanding mechanism of action of bioactive compounds and/or fruit or vegetable extracts. Some of the instruments include multi-well plate reader, cell counter, double beam spectrophotometer, nano drop spectrophotometer, RT (reverse transcriptase) PCR and Western blotting unit.

Research

Research in this lab is focused on screening extracts and isolated compounds of fruits and vegetables such as citrus, carrots and pepper for inhibitory ability of human colon, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer. The lab also conducts studies to understand the mechanism of the action of these pure compounds to induce apoptosis in cultured cancer cells. Research is in progress on elucidating mechanisms for preventing oxidative stress induced by various heavy metals.

In addition research on in vitro bioavailability of fruits and vegetables is being studied. The role of citrus phytochemicals in quorum sensing of microbes is studied using non-pathogenic organisms.