Chemistry-biology interfacial research has a profound and useful role in science and society. It provides a crucial bridge to study, understand and manipulate many exciting research problems including drug discovery and development. Members of the Chemical Biology division use various synthetic chemistry techniques to synthesise molecules for the elucidation of essential biological problems, predesigned protein synthesis, residue specific incorporation of functional sites.

Efforts are on to study, design and develop a drug loaded novel biodegradable polymeric materials and films in the nanometer scale for ophthalmic applications and also for the controlled release of anticancer drugs. Biodegradable scaffolds for cell differentiation and to improve the efficiency of transplantation by incorporating and differentiating retinal cells specifically at the degenerating site of retina.

Efforts are on to develop DNA Barcoding system to discover, characterize, and distinguish species, and to assign unidentified individuals to species. This also helps to study the genetic relationship and diversity among and between different populations and species in different parts of Western Ghats

The growing problem of resistance to conventional antibiotics and the need for new antibiotics has stimulated the search for new classes of antibiotics to which bacteria develop no resistance. Chemical biology group continue their endeavours to discover and develop novel host defence peptides (mini proteins) which are capable of inhibiting microbial growth in microgram level. They isolated several mini proteins from frogs of the Western Ghats and they were characterised and synthesised. Efforts are on for the chemical synthesis of a novel biodegradable multifunctional polymer in nanometer scale as drug delivery vehicle. A multifunctional, biodegradable and globular structured polyvalent polyalkylether based dendritic core having linear multifunctional block polymers with multiple and chemically distinct functional sites may serve as a good nanocarrier.