Dr. P. K. Ambasht

Designation: Associate Professor

Department: Biochemistry

Qualifications:

  • B.Sc. Hons. (Chemistry) BHU;
  • M.Sc. (Biochemistry) BHU;
  • Ph.D. (Biochemistry) BHU;
  • UG Diploma (French) BHU;
  • UGC NET

Areas of Interest/Specialization        

  • Enzymology and Enzyme Biotechnology
  • Enzyme purification, Enzyme kinetics, Enzyme immobilization
  • Pyruvate kinase, PEP-Phosphatase
  • Alpha amylase, acid phosphatase, phytase, xylanase, protease and urease

Experience:                             

  • NEHU (Lecturer/Assistant Professor) 14 years, 8 months
  • NEHU (Associate Professor) 5 years 8 months

Ph.D. awarded/Supervised : Four awarded

  • Dr. Tutu Kalita; Studies on the catalytic activity of soluble and immobilized acid phosphatase in resolving racemic phosphate esters in aqueous and organic solvents.
  • Dr. Kerdalin Kharkrang: Purification, kinetics and immobilization of alpha amylase from pearl millet.
  • Dr. Shalimi Rapsang Nongpiur; Purification, kinetic characterization and   immobilization of acid phosphatase from rice bean (Vigna umbellata var.umbellata).
  • Dr. Khriesituonuo Belho; Purification, characterization and immobilization of phytase from germinating rice bean (Vigna umbellata Thunb.).

Administrative responsibilities Undertaken                           

  • Member BPGS and BOS Dept. of Zoology
  • Member BPGS and BOS Dept. of Biochemistry
  • Member BOS Dept. of Botant
  • Member School Board of Life Sciences
  • Member Academic Council and University Court

Research Projects

  1. Effect of salinity and heavy metal toxicity of respiratory metabolism of rice plants. (UGC)
  2. Role of phosphoenolpyruvate phosphatase in plants.  (CSIR)

Publications

  1. Ambasht RS, Shardendu, Ambasht PK (1995) Environment education on Resource Conservation. In Environment: Some Focal Issues Ed. Srivastava MM. Pub: Singh B, and Singh MP Dehradun India, 1-13.
  2. Malhotra OP, Ambasht PK, Prabhakar P, Lal AK, Kayastha AM (1996) An assay procedure for determining rate of an enzymatic reaction lacking optical signal: Validity of coupled enzyme assays. Biochemical Education 24: 56-59, Essays in Biochemistry Volume 30
  3. Ambasht PK, Malhotra OP,  Kayastha AM (1996) Purification, characterization and steady state kinetic properties of cytosolic pyruvate kinase free of PEP-phosphatase activity from mung beans (V. radiata L.) Indian Journal of Biochemistry & Biophysics 33: 184-194.
  4. Kayastha AM, Ambasht PK (1996) Plant phosphoenolpyruvate phosphatase: A glycolytic enzyme? The Botanica 46: 228-230.
  5. Ambasht PK, Joshi VK (1996) Kumaun Himalaya – A repository of medicinal plants. Journal of Non-Timber Forest Products 3: 64-70.
  6. Kayastha AM, Ambasht PK (1996) Protein structure based drug designing. Journal of Scientific Research 46: 37-46.
  7. Ambasht PK, Malhotra OP, Kayastha AM (1997) Regulatory properties and active site groups of cytosolic mung bean pyruvate kinase. Indian Journal of Biochemistry & Biophysics 34: 364-372.
  8. Ambasht PK, Kayastha AM (1999) Plant Phosphoenolpyruvate phosphatase – A review. Physiology & Molecular Biology of Plants 5: 1-6.
  9. Ambasht PK (2000) Some remedial measures for unemployed young and not so young Indian Scientists. Current Science 79: 1044.
  10. Ambasht PK, Kayastha AM (2002) Plant pyruvate kinase. Biologia Plantarum 45: 1-10.
  11. Ambasht PK (2005) Decline in academia. Current Science 88: 331.
  12. Nallamsetty S, Dubey VK, Pandey M, Ambasht PK, Jagannadham MV (2007) Accumulation of Partly Folded States in the Equilibrium Unfolding of Ervatamin A: Spectroscopic description of the Native, Intermediate & Unfolded States. Biochimie 89: 1416-1424.
  13. Ambasht PK, Kharkrang K, Nongpiur SR (2007) Omega-3-fatty acids: A boon to human beings. Current Science 93: 1044.
  14. Kharkrang K, Ambasht PK (2012) Purification and characterization of alpha amylase from seeds of pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoides). Journal of Proteins & Proteomics 3: -60.
  15. Kharkrang K, Ambasht PK (2013) Immobilization of α-amylase from Pennisetum typhoides inside gelatin beads and its characterization. Journal of Proteins & Proteomics 4: 183-189.
  16. Ambasht RS, Ambasht PK (2014) Environment and Pollution. Pub: CBS Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, India p.332. ISBN: 978-81-239-2349-9.
  17. Belho K, Nongpiur SR, Ambasht PK (2014) Immobilization of acid phosphatase (Type I) from wheat germ on glutaraldehyde activated chitosan beads: Optimization and characterization. Journal of Proteins & Proteomics 5: 177-183.
  18. Belho K, Nongpiur SR, Ambasht PK (2016) Purification and partial characterization of phytase from rice bean (Vigna umbellata Thunb.) germinated seeds. Journal of Plant Biochemistry & Biotechnology 25: 27-30.
  19. Belho K, Ambasht PK (2017) Characterization of phytase isolated from rice bean cotyledons (Vigna umbellata Thunb.) with respect to influence of different factors. In Exploring Chemistry –Interface with Human welfare. (Eds. M.N. Bhattacharjee, D.L. Buam, C. Masharing and B.M. Laloo). Pub. Eastern Book House Publishers, Guwahati. 157-166 ISBN: 978-93-83252-97-8  
  20. Kharkongor LR, Ambasht PK (2017) Characterization of xylanase from Trichoderma longibrachiatum.   In Exploring Chemistry –Interface with Human welfare. (Eds. M.N. Bhattacharjee, D.L. Buam, C. Masharing and B.M. Laloo). Pub. Eastern Book House Publishers, Guwahati. 198-206 ISBN: 978-93-83252-97-8.
  21. Kharkrang K, Ambasht PK (2019) Characterization of α-amylase from Pennisetum typhoides immobilized inside calcium alginate beads. Journal of Scientific Research 63: 53-67
  22. Kalita T, Ambasht PK (2019) Immobilization and characterization of acid phosphatase from wheat germ (Type I) in agarose gel. J. Proteins Proteomics 10: 291-297
  23. Ambasht PK (2020) Use of group-specific reagents in active site functional group elucidation I: Cys, Ser, Tyr and Trp residues. In: Frontiers in Protein Structure, Function, and Dynamics. DB Singh and T Tripathi. (Eds.) Springer Nature, Singapore Pte Ltd. 71-94.
  24. Ambasht PK (2020) Use of group-specific reagents in active site functional group elucidation II: Asp, Glu, Arg, Lys and His residues. In: Frontiers in Protein Structure, Function, and Dynamics.DB Singh and T Tripathi. (Eds.) Springer Nature, Singapore Pte Ltd. 95-117.
  25. Kalita T, Sangma SD, Bez G, Ambasht PK (2020) Immobilization of acid phosphatase in agar-agar and gelatin: Comparative characterization. Journal of Scientific Research 64 (2) : 192-200
  26. Belho K, Ambasht PK (2021a) Immobilization of phytase from rice bean (VignaumbellataThunb.) on glutaraldehyde activated chitosan microspheres. J Sci Res65: 111-119. (UGC Care list)
  27. Belho K, Ambasht PK (2021b) Thermal and chemical inactivation studies of phytase from rice bean. Journal  Proteins Proteomics 12: 143-149 (Springer, Singapore) (UGC Care  list)
  28. Nongpiur SR, Kalita T, Belho K, Ambasht PK (2021) Purification and partial characterization of acid phosphatase from rice bean (Vignaumbellata).  J Proteins Proteomics 12: 325-335 (Springer, Singapore) (UGC Care list)
  29. Nongpiur SR, Ambasht PK (2022) Rice bean (VignaumbellataThunb.) acid phosphatase: Effect of metal ions and metabolites. J. Sci. Res66: 179-185 (UGC Care list)

Papers presented in Conferences/Seminars   

  1. Seminar on Bio Analytical techniques 
    “Enzyme immobilization and biosensors”
    Department of Biochemistry, NEHU Shillong on 26 March 2010
  2. National Seminar on Maintenance of Teaching Standards in Higher Education: Issues, Problems and Reforms“Teaching and Research in Universities”
    NEHU, Shillong on 25-26 March 2011.
  3. First International Conference on Biotechnology, Bioinformatics and Bioengineering “Characterization of alpha amylase from Pennisetum typhoides entrapped inside gelatin beads”  
    Hotel Uday, Tirupati from 28-29 June 2013.
  4. International Conference on Emerging Trends in Biotechnology ICETB 2014 Invited Speaker
    “Characterization of α-amylase from Pennisetum typhoides entrapped inside calcium alginate beads”.
    Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi November 6-9, 2014.
  5. National Conference on Science and Technology for National Development Health, Environment and Agriculture ISCA Bangalore chapter “Immobilization of α-amylase from Pennisetum typhpoides onto chitosan beads and its characterization”. Jain University Bangalore on 05-07 October 2016.
  6. National Symposium on Recent Trends in Chemistry (RTC-19) “Thermal and chemical inactivation of phytase from rice bean Vigna umbellata” Department of Chemistry, NEHU, Shillong (October 31-November 1, 2019).

Delivered lectures in HRDC NEHU

  • “Primary Health Perspectives in Orientation Programme (March 14, 2020);
  • “Health and diseases from the perspective of Biomolecules” in Faculty Induction Programme (November 28, 2020);
  • “Enzyme immobilization and application”in Refresher Course in Biotechnology (August 23, 2021);
  • “Enzyme activity assay and purification” in Refresher Course in Life Sciences (August 3, 2022)

Attended

  1. Two Day Workshop on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on the theme “Adoption, Promotion and Development of MOOCs through SWAYAM platform held in NEHU, Shillong (May 28-29, 2019); One Day North East Regional Training Programme for Administrators of Plagiarism Detection Softwares (PDS) URKUND, NEHU Campus, Shillong (August 23, 2019).
  2. National Brain Storming Webinar on Teacher Education before NCTE and after in India (June 24, 2020); National Webinar on Advances in Biotechnology to produce vaccine against SARS-CoV2 (July 12, 2020).
  3. Delivered a lecture on "Enzyme Immobilization" at Department of Biotechnology, MB Post Graduate College, Haldwani, (November 20, 2019); Delivered a lecture on "Primary Health Perspectives" at UGC-HRD Centre, 50th Orientation Programme NEHU, Shillong (March 14, 2020).

Any other     

Reviewer of Journals:

Journal of Proteins & Proteomics (Proteomics Society of India, Springer); Journal of Molecular Catalysis B: Enzymatic (Elsevier); Journal of Plant Biochemistry & Biotechnology (Springer);The NEHU Journal (NEHU);Recent Patents on Food Nutrition & Agriculture; Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry; Mediterranean Journal of Chemistry; Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International; Journal of Advances in Microbiology; Journal of Scientific Research; Chemical Engineering & Technology; Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering; Bioscience Journal.