The Institute,
formerly known as Tropical Botanic Garden and Research
Institute (TBGRI), is an R & D Institution established
in 1979 by Government of Kerala for conserving the tropical
plant genetic resources and to develop strategies for
their sustainable utilization. The JNTBGRI is currently
functioning as one of the Institutions of the Kerala
State Council for Science Technology and Environment
(KSCSTE), which is an autonomous organization, established
by Government of Kerala for promoting Science and Technology
developments of the country particularly in Kerala State.
The Government of India has recognized the JNTBGRI as
a National Centre of Excellence. The institute is ideally
located at the foot hills of the Western Ghats (at Palode,
40 km away from Thiruvananthapuram – Shencottah
Road) in a 121 hectare forest land with hills and hillocks
and evergreen, deciduous, marshy and riverine vegetation
in addition to grasslands and rocky areas providing
different microclimatic conditions for the profusion
of the tropical species. There is no ideal organization
at present in India with such diverse habitats and vegetation
to undertake research on plant diversity conservation
and sustainable utilization of plant wealth. The institute
is currently conserving more than 4000 species of flowering
plants and about 300 species of non-flowering angiosperms,
which is the highest number of plant species conserved
among the botanic gardens in Asia. The institute has an extention centre viz Saraswathy Thangavelu Centre
at Puthenthope where the Bioinformatics Centre is established.
About Sub DIC
The Bioinformatics programme was
initiated at JNTBGRI in 1998 by the launching of a Sub-Distributed
Information Centre, as part of the Biotechnology Information
System Network (BTISNET) program of Department of Biotechnology,
Government of India. The program was initially aimed
to establish computer and communication infrastructure
facilities for promoting biotechnology based R &
D. Recognising the importance of Bioinformatics on fulfilling
the main objectives of JNTBGRI i.e., to prepare a comprehensive
information system on plant genetic diversity of the
country particularly of the Western Ghats and novel
discoveries in plant science, the Institute has established
the Bioinformatics R & D Centre in 2002 with
financial support from DBT in a separate campus at Saraswathy
Thangavelu Centre of JNTBGRI, Puthenthope, Thiruvananthapuram.
Since its inception the Centre has been focussed
on biodiversity informatics, validation of drug activity
in Indian medicinal plants and human resource development. >> More