Division of Plant Biology consists of Departments-Botany & Pharmacogonosy and Metabolic and Structural Biology:

1. Botany & Pharmacogonosy: Research activities of the department are aimed at survey, collection and authentication of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) from different phyto-geographical regions of the country. Collation and documentation of traditional knowledge on medicinal plants from tribal people. Introduction of MAPs in CSIR-CIMAP campus for developing new chemo- types and varieties. Enhancement of herbarium specimens and crude drugs in repository of CIMAP and its maintenance. Publication of Books on MAPs for awareness in R & D activities of the institute and Knowledge Calendar. Investigations on various physiological factors affecting accumulation of secondary metabolites viz. alkaloids and essential oil in important MAPs. Established techniques of sand and hydroponics culture suitable for MAPs are employed to grow the plants. Development of conventional (emulsion/suspension/gel/cream/solution/syrup/capsule etc) and novel drug delivery (micro-emulsion /nanoemulsion/ phytosomes/ microsphere/ nanogel etc.) based herbal formulations. Drug-Safety evaluation of developed formulation using skin, mucus membrane and irritation assay.

2.Metabolic & Structural Biology: Research activities at the department are primarily aimed at the delineating and mechanistically describing the plant secondary metabolites related biosynthetic pathways and their steps, through structural and functional characterization of the relevant genes/ proteins/metabolites involved on important MAPs as Withania somnifera, Centella asiatica, Neem, mint and Ocimum. The ultra-modern techniques such as transcriptome mapping, RNAi, genetic transformation on one hand and on other hand conventional approaches to generate knowledge for the holistic understanding of various physiological and regulatory issues of the biogenetic processes for the commercially important metabolites are utilized. The bioinformatics aspects of molecular modeling, computational biology and chemistry, e.g., the study of molecular shape and properties, molecular simulations, protein modeling and drug design, structure activity, toxicity and property relationships, database mining and compound library design are also carried out. Crystallographic and crystal engineering studies of biologically active natural products and cytotoxic plant peptides are also pursued at the department.