Dr. Anish N. P (Chairman) Deputy Registrar (Academic Affairs), Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology ,Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Dr. Deepu Krishnan P. R Assistant Manager (Translational Research), Kerala Startup Mission, Kariyavattom, Thiruvananthapuram Dr. Mahesh S. Krishna (Convenor) Senior Scientist, Centre of Excellence in Microbiome, KINFRA Film & Video Park, Thiruvananthapuram
Dr. Radhakrishnan E.K (Chairman) Associate Professor, School of Biosciences (SBS), and Hon. Director, Business Innovation and Incubation Centre (BIIC), Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. Dr. Saishyam Narayanan CEO, IIT Palakkad Technology I-Hub Foundation (IPTIF), IIT Sahayadri Campus, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Block, Palakkad. Dr. Deepu Krishnan PR Assistant Manager (Translational Research), Kerala Startup Mission,Thiruvananthapuram. Er. Arjun Prasad Scientist B, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) Sasthra Bhavan, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. Mahesh S. Krishna (convener) Senior Scientist, Centre of Excellence in Microbiome,Govt of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram.
Dr. Sabu Thomas(Chairman) Director,Centre of Excellence in Microbiome, KINFRA Film & Video Park, Kazhakkoottam, Thiruvananthapuram Dr.Harikumar K B Scientist E II & IBSC Member Secretary, BRIC-RGCB, Government of India. Dr. Saritha N Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram Dr. Sarika A.R. Principal Scientist, Kerala Biotechnology Commission, Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment,Thiruvananthapuram Dr. Priya P Scientist C, Institute of Advanced Virology, Govt. of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram Dr. Mahesh S. Krishna (Member Secretary IBSC) Senior Scientist, Centre of Excellence in Microbiome KINFRA Film & Video Park, Kazhakkoottam, Thiruvananthapuram
Human Health 1 Dr. Syam K Professor, Department of Neurology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram. 2 Dr. Krishnadas Professor and HOD, Medical Gastroenterology, Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. 3 Dr. George Chandy Matteethra Director and CEO at Believers Church Medical College Hospital, Thiruvalla. 4 Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan Gastroenterologist, Sunrise Hospital, Kochi. 5 Dr. Shine Sadasivan Professor & Head, Dept. of Gastroenterology, Amrita Hospital, Kochi 6 Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips Gastrointestinal Sciences, The Rajagiri Hospital, Aluva, Kochi. 7 Dr. Murali Krishnan M Consultant Medicine & Gastroenterologist, District Hospital, Tirur, Malappuram. Plant Health 1 Dr. Anith K.Narayanan Professor of Microbiology and Director of Research, Kerala Agricultural University,Thrissur. 2 Dr. Murali Gopal Plant Health Principal Scientist, ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasargode 3 Dr. Jisha M S Plant health Professor and former Director, School of Biosciences, & Hon. Director, School of Food Science and Technology, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. 4 Prof. Swapna T S Plant health Professor and Head of the Department, Dept. of Biotechnology, University of Kerala,Thiruvananthapuram. 5 Dr. Soniya E V Plant health Former Scientist G, Dept. of Plant Biotechnology, BRIC – RGCB,Thiruvananthapuram. AI/ML- Big Data Analysis 1 Prof. Achuthsankar S Nair Senior Professor and Former Head of Dept. of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala. 2 Dr. Swadha Anand Principal Scientist, Bio-Sciences R&D Tata Consultancy Services, Pune, India. 3 Dr. Amjesh R. Scientist, Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council , Thiruvananthapuram. 4 Dr. Gopakumar G Associate Professor, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, NIT, Calicut.
1 Dr. Aravind R. – Human Microbiome Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. 2 Prof. Devika Pillai – Aquatic Microbiome Assistant Director General (Inland Fisheries) at ICAR, Govt. of India & Former Director of Research & Head i/c, Department of Aquatic Animal Health Management at Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi. 3 Prof. Jaishanker R – Environmental Microbiome -Terrestrial Ecology Professor of Ecological Informatics and the Chair of the School of Informatics at Digital University Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. 4. Prof. Salom Gnana Thanga V. – Environmental Microbiome-Freshwater & Marine ecosystem Professor and Head, Department of Environmental Science, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. 5 Shri. Anoop Ambika – Data Analytics Chief Executive Officer – Kerala Startup Mission, Thiruvananthapuram. 6 Dr. E. K. Radhakrishnan – Plant Microbiome Associate Professor of Microbiology, School of Biosciences, & Hon. Director – Business Innovation and Incubation Centre, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. 7 Dr. Sarika A.R. – Animal Microbiome Principal Scientist, Kerala Biotechnology Commission, Kerala State Council For Science Technology & Environment, Thiruvananthapuram. 8 Dr. Amjesh R. – Bioinformatics Scientist, Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC),Thiruvananthapuram.
1. Athira Thulaseedharan Salaja, Karthika Suryaletha, Sabu Thomas, Abhirami Chithrakumari Raneshan, Deepthi Thankappan, Dijo Darjees,Sarika Ambika Rajendran. 2025. Acinetobacter baumannii: Insights into epidemiology, pathogenicity and drug resistance. The Microbe 9(2025) 100598. doi.org/10.1016/j.microb.2025.100598 2. Paul M, Sabu Thomas. 2025. Detection of morphological variants of colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae associated with sepsis in Kerala, India. Acta Microbiol Immunol Hung. 72(1):39-42. doi: 10.1556/030.2025.02515 3. Devika Das J, Vishnu SJ, Karthika Suryaletha, Merin Paul, Aparna Shankar, Swapna R Nath, Sabu Thomas. 2025. Probiotic Lacticasibacillus paracasei from human gut microbiome against colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae: in vitro, in vivo and probiogenomic approaches. Beneficial Microbes. 9:1–21. doi: 10.1163/18762891-bja00065. 4. Singh SK, Sudhir S, Menon V, Warrier AR, V AR, Edathadathil F, Sathyapalan DT, Sivaprasad PS, Thomas S (2025) Epidemiology and clinical outcomes of monomicrobial carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) from a metropolitan area of Kerala, India. J Infect Dev Ctries 19:569–575. doi: 10.3855/jidc.18777 5. Vaikkathillam P, Sajeevan A, Mohan S, Solomon AP, Rajan PP, S M, Kumar P, Sabu Thomas. 2025. Genomic analysis of colistin and carbapenem resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae GC29. Microb Pathog. 199:107220. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2024.107220. 6. Aparna S, Devika DJ, Nayar S, Thomas S. 2023. Deciphering the effect of maternal postpartum antibiotic prophylaxis on the infant gut microbiome a whole metagenomic analysis. Future Microbiology. 18:427-441. 7. Betsy M, Karthika S, Amrutha ML, Alida S, Sabu Thomas, Jatish Kumar. 2022. Chiral Nanostructures Derived from Europium (III) Complexes for Enhanced Circularly Polarized Luminescence and Antibacterial Activity. Journal of Materials Chemistry C. 10, 13954-13963. 8. Karthika S, Sivakumar & Sabu Thomas. 2021. Comprehensive Genomics Depict Accessory Genes Encoding Pathogenicity and Biofilm Determinants in Enterococcus faecalis. Future Microbiology. 16:3. 9. Divya MP, Hardip R, Patel, Sivakumar Krishnankutty Chandrika, Sabu Thomas. 2021. Genomic attributes differ between Vibrio parahaemolyticus environmental and clinical isolates including pathotypes. Environmental Microbiology Reports. 14(3):365-375. 10. Lekshmi N, Sivakumar KC and Sabu Thomas. 2020. Adaptive laboratory evolution of Vibrio cholerae to doxycycline associated with spontaneous mutation. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. 56(2020). 11. Devika DJ, Shankar A, Johnson JB, Thomas S. 2020. Critical insights into antibiotic resistance transferability in probiotic Lactobacillus. Nutrition. 69:110567. 12. Lekshmi N, Vishnu S J, Sivakumar K C, Sabu Thomas. 220. Epidemiological and pathogenic characteristics of Haitian variant V. cholerae circulating in India over a decade (2000–2018). Microbial Pathogenesis. 149 (2020) 13. Divya M.P., Ramamurthy, T. & Sabu Thomas. 2020. Genetic and virulence characterisation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from Indian coast. BMC Microbiology 20, 62. 14. Wilson PA, Sajith R, Vipin G, Karthika S, Sabu Thomas. 2020. Deciphering the Cold Adaptive Mechanisms in Pseudomonas psychrophila MTCC12324 isolated from the Arctic at 79° N. Current Microbiology. 77, 2345–2355. 15. Aparna Shankar, Devika J, Megha PR, Merin Paul, Lekshmi N, Karthika S, Akhila VS, Sabu Thomas. 2020. Elucidation of health risks using metataxonomic and antibiotic resistance profiles of microbes in flood affected waterbodies, Kerala 2018. J Flood Risk Management. 2020:e12673. 16. Karthika S, Lekshmi N, Joby John, Megha PR, Sanil George & Sabu Thomas. 2019. Decoding the proteomic changes involved in the biofilm formation of Enterococcus faecalis SK460 to elucidate potential biofilm determinants. BMC Microbiology. 19:146. 17. Lekshmi N, Mary T Sivakumar KC and Sabu Thomas. 2019. Tryptanthrin, a potent biofilm inhibitor against toxigenic Vibrio cholerae, modulating the global quorum sensing regulator,LuxO. Biofouling. 35(10):1093–1103. 18. Merin.P, Lekshmi.N, Vasanthakumary A R, Iype Joseph, Sabu Thomas. 2019. Genome sequence of a multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ST78 with high colistin resistance isolated from a patient in India. Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance. 17: 187–188. 19. Karthika S, Joby John, Megha PR, S.George & Sabu Thomas. 2018. Metataxonomic approach to decipher the polymicrobial burden in diabetic foot ulcer and its biofilm mode of infection. International Wound Journal. 15:473–481. 20. Jose D, Lekshmi N, Goel AK, Kumar RA, Thomas S. 2017. Development of a Novel Herbal Formulation to Inhibit Biofilm Formation in Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae. J Food Prot. 80(11):1933-1940. 21. Dharmaprakash Akhilandeswarre, Mutt Eshita, Jaleel Abdul, Ramanathan Sowdhamini and Sabu Thomas. 2014. Proteome profile of pandemic Vibrio parahaemolyticus SC192 strain during planktonic and biofilm condition. Biofouling: The Journal of Bioadhesion and Biofilm 1Research. 30(6):7292-739. 22. Augustine N, Goel AK, Sivakumar KC, Kumar RA, Thomas S. 2014. Resveratrol–a potential inhibitor of biofilm formation in Vibrio cholerae. Phytomedicine. 21(3):286-9. 23. Praveen Kumar and Sabu Thomas. 2011. Presence of qnrVC3 gene cassette in SXT and class1 integrons of Vibrio cholerae. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. 37(3):280-1. 24. Nimmy Augustine, Praveen Kumar and Sabu Thomas. 2010. Inhibition of Vibrio cholerae biofilm by AiiA enzyme produced from Bacillus spp. Archives of Microbiology. 192 (12): 1019-1022. 25. Praveen Kumar and Sabu Thomas. 2009. Presence of dfr6 gene cassette in superintegron of non-O1/non-O139 strain of Vibrio cholerae. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 53:4959–4960. Books Edited Human Microbiome: Clinical Implications and Therapeutic Interventions, 2022. Ed. Sabu Thomas. Springer Singapore. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-7672-7 Emerging Concepts in Bacterial Biofilms: Molecular Mechanisms and Control Strategies, 2020. ( Eds. Sabu Thomas). Cambridge Scholars Publisher, UK. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=hEbDywEACAAJ Antimicrobial Resistance: Global Challenges and Future Interventions, 2020. Ed.Sabu Thomas. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. https://www.springer.com/in/book/9789811536571
MICROBIOME STARTUP SUPPORTING PROGRAM Centre of Excellence in Microbiome (CoEM), a premier institution working in the field of microbiome, is initiated by the Govt. of Kerala under the aegis of KSCSTE. The major focus of CoEM is to create a strong knowledge base in the area of microbiome and to disseminate the knowledge for the development of products, technologies and measurable outcomes for the benefit of society.Alongside its scientific mandate, CoEM plays a catalytic role in fostering a vibrant startup ecosystem in the microbiome sector.Our vision is to support innovators, student teams, and early-stage companies in developing impactful, market-ready microbiome-based solutions. To foster the vision, Centre of Excellence in Microbiome has envisaged multiple programs that ultimately handhold aspiring innovators to accomplish their goals PURPOSE AND PROCESS CoEM extends structured incubation support to selected microbiome-based startups, with a focus on transforming innovative concepts into market-ready products. Startups at the Proof-of-Concept stage may apply by submitting an application as per format, outlining their profile, required support, and a basic workplan with achievable milestones in a 11-month period. To safeguard intellectual property, applicants are advised to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Applications will undergo committee evaluation, following which selected firms will be invited for a discussion. Inducted teams may start with a three-month pre-incubation program upon payment of a nominal bench fee (see payment options below). Performance during this phase will be closely monitored and evaluated by CoEM. Subsequent extension of support will be contingent on evaluation report. Startups inducted to CoEM will also benefit from industry-connect initiatives, enabling direct interaction with leading industrial partners. This provides them with valuable exposure to current industrial challenges, emerging opportunities, and sector-specific requirements in the microbiome domain, thereby aligning their product development with market relevance. WHAT WE OFFER FULL FLEDGED LAB FACILITIES IN PLUG AND PLAY MODE ADVANCED EQUIPMENT FACILITY AMBIENT CO-WORKING SPACE EXPERT SCIENTIFIC MENTORING, IF REQUIRED AUDIO-VISUALLY EQUIPPED MINI SEMINAR HALL WIFI CONNECTIVITY CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR MICROBOIME BASED STARTUPS PAYMENT PACKAGES MONTHLY RENT FOR SITTING SPACE: Rs. 2000/- PACKAGE FOR BASIC LAB FACILITY: Rs. 8000/- pm Basic lab package includes the usage* of: Microbial culture facility Basic lab equipments Minimum storage space in -20 and -80 deep freezers Seminar hall of 25 pax capacity (3 meetings per month) Scientific mentoring support** (one meeting per month) Entry cards Wifi access THREE-MONTHS PRE-INCUBATION PACKAGE: Rs. 6000/- per month. This include Rs. 2000 as sitting space rent and Rs. 4000 as basic lab package. *Shared facility; Pre-booking is mandatory ** If required and subjected to NDA ACCESS TO ADVANCED EQUIPMENTS* This includes the usage of: PCR Animal cell culture facility Phase Contrast microscope Gel documentation unit Inverted microscope Lyophiliser Multi-mode reader Anaerobic Culture Facility Support firms to utilise facilities such as Genomics, Metagenomics and advanced analysis, Proteomics, Metabolomics and advanced imaging services through outsourcing. *On payment basis; Pre-booking is mandatory; Use of advanced equipments will be supported/supervised by staff of CoEM Connect us at Ph. 8138999099 Email: coemkscste@gmail.com
The institute aims to integrate microbiome concepts with emerging big data technologies in bioinformatics, using AI and data analytics to uncover relationships that can lead to sustainable solutions. Additionally, spatio-temporal mapping of microbiome data can be used as indicators of health and climate resilience, facilitating predictive analytics. Research and development with an accumulative-transformative approach could lead to the creation of microbiome databases to facilitate further research, foster entrepreneurship and promote social outreach. This can enhance our understanding of microbial interactions and developing health maintenance strategies or products for humans, animals, plants and aquatic environments, including customized products. Another active area of microbiome research is integrating data from multi-omic approaches, including metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metaproteomics, and metametabolomics, to address mechanistic gaps. AI enables the in-depth analysis of data generated in microbiome studies and build predictive models based on microbial community data.
