The big discovery

Getting your cholesterol levels down is a pain, often involving heavy dietary restrictions. Of course, it’s for your own good, but how cool would it be if you could eat your favourite burgers without having to worry about getting a stroke?

That could soon be a possibility, with E.V.V. Ramprasad’s, a 32-year-old research associate at the University of Hyderabad’s Life Sciences department, discovery of two types of bacterial strains — blastochloris gulmargensis and rhodopseudomonas pentothenatexigens.

Lowering harmful triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein (LDL or bad cholesterol) these can be used either directly in the body, or, as Ramprasad says, to create low-cholesterol animal-based foods.

“It’ll be mainly used to create cholesterol-free eggs, chicken, pork and other animal-based foods. It may be a little more expensive, but it will be a much healthier alternative,” Ramprasad says, adding that while the discovery was actually made in 2013, pharmaceutical companies have only recently begun approaching him to develop a product.

Taken from soil samples in Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir, and Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, the process of isolating bacterial strains such as these take almost a year, Ramprasad explains — “From hundreds of bacteria samples, we test each and every one of them and finally maybe one or two actually prove to be useful. To develop a finished product, it takes a minimum of six months, but that can go on to about a year as well.”

Ramprasad, who hails from an agricultural family in Rajahmundry and gained a Master’s degree in micro-biology from Gandhigram Rural Institute, Dindigul, says that his aim has always been to try and find useful products that actually help people.

“I’ve always been interested in microbiology, but mainly I’ve been focusing on biomarkers that can be useful for various diseases. People are dying because of so many drug-resistant diseases, medicines don’t help them anymore,” says the researcher, who has a total of four bacterial strains patented to his name.
He credits his PhD research opportunities to his mentors Prof C.H. Sasikala from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and Prof C.H. Venkata Ramana from the University of Hyderabad, the latter of whom he is now working with on marine-based ecosystems for the past year at the university's Department of Plant Sciences.

“Right now I’m concentrating on isolating drugs from marine-based bacteria — they’re a rich source for drugs and medicines. Not many bacteria from there have been cultured so far, so we’re exploring the vast uncultured space,” says Ramprasad.

“Currently, we’ve discovered a bacteria that can suppress algal blooms, that are toxic to fresh water animals. By the end of this year, we’re hoping to develop a product that can be used in the market as well,” says Ramprasad, adding that he will soon be applying for a scientist’s position at the university.