Prof. (Dr.) M.Daniel

Prof. (Dr.) M. Daniel, hailing from Kerala (the cradle of Ayurveda), migrated to Gujarat to pursue his Ph. D from the Famous Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1972. His Doctoral thesis was on an interdisciplinary subject of Chemotaxonomy and Phytochemistry for which he was awarded Ph. D in 1976. He joined the Botany Department of M.S University in 1975 as an assistant Lecturer. He became a Reader in 1987 and Professor in 1995. He was appointed as Head of this Dept in 2003 and Dean, Faculty of Science in 2008. He retired from University assignments in 2012 and established “Dr. Daniel’s Laboratories”, to pursue his dream of creating an Independent research Institution with the help of his student, Mr. Sachin G. Patel.

Throughout his illustrious carrier spanning 45 years ( 45 years of research experience and 39 years of teaching experience), he pioneered a number of independent student oriented, capacity building courses such as:

1. “Phytochemistry and Economic Botany” as a special paper at M.Sc.
2. “Phytochemistry: theory and Practices” as a special paper at M.Sc.
3. “Herbal Cosmetics” as an elective paper in M.Sc.
4. “Natural Dyes” as an elective paper in M.Sc.
5. “Biopesticides” as an elective paper in M.Sc.
6. “Biofuel” as an elective paper in M.Sc.

1. With the help of UNIDO, Daniel established a  Technical Consultancy Bureau in Dept. of Botany, MSU – Baroda, in 2002   to help Ayurvedic and Herbal Industries to improve their quality control measures and to standardize their products, where he served as  Director.
2. (Dr.) M. Daniel was the brain behind initiating a self-financed one year Diploma course “Medico-Botany” conducted by Faculty of Science of Maharaja Sayajirao University. He worked as the Co-Ordinator of the course.

He has conducted more than 20 National Seminars, Workshops and Symposia   on Medicinal Plants, Phytochemistry of Medicinal Plants, Nutraceuticals, Cosmetics, Natural Dyes etc.

Traveled far and wide, he has given more than 150 technical and popular lectures in and around Indian subcontinent.

Research Contributions of Prof. M. Daniel

Fields of Specialisation: Phytochemistry, Medicinal Plants including nutraceuticals, Taxonomy, Phytoalexins and Allelopathy.

During his long outstanding carrier, Prof. M. Daniel unearthed (discovered) a  large number of highly acclaimed useful scientific data  on plant chemical wealth of India especially of medicinal plants. Some of them are the following.

1. The antioxidant potential of about 150 medicinal plants, summarized in his paper “Phenolics (Antioxidants) of some Indian medicinal plants” a review of his work published in Applied Botany Abstracts 25(1), 63-74,  2005
2. Phenolic antioxidants of a number of foods and food adjuncts:

a). “Polyphenols of some Indian Vegetables”. Curr.Sci. 58, 1332-1334, (1989).
b). “Nutritional and phytochemical aspects of some vegetables” J.Econ.Tax.Bot. 13: 227-230,  (1989)
c). “Phenolics of some fruit spices of the Apiaceae” Nat. Acad. Sci.Lett. 13: 439-441 (1990)
d) “Phenolics of some Indian spices” Acta Botanica Indica, 21: 262-266 (1993)
e) “Flavonoids of some leafy vegetables of the Caryophyllales”.Eco.Bot. & Phytochem. 2: 6-8, (1991)
f) “Phenolic antioxidants of some common pulses”. Food Sci. Technol. 38: 272-273 ,2001
g) “Fixed oil composition, Polyphenols and phospholipids of Finger millet [Eleusine  coracana (L.) Gaertn]” Biol. Forum 4(1):45-47,  (2012)
h) “Flavonoids and phenolic acids from Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) based foods and their functional implications”. Functional Foods in Health and Disease 2012; 2(7):251-280
i) “Polyphenols, phospholipids and fixed oil composition of Pearl millet [Pennisetum  glaucum R. Br.] Int. J. Pharm.& Life Sci.3(11): 2098-2102, 2012
j) “Ecdysterone, phospholipids and phenolics of Amaranthus caudatus”. FSJ Pharm Res. 1(3):68- 70
k) “Anticancer potential of Bajra (Pearl millet)” In Press.
l) “Antidiabetic properties of Kodri (Paspalium scrobiculatum Linn)” In Press.

3. Phytochemical studies;

3. Plants analysed for their chemical constituents ( for chemotaxonomical interpretations) About 1100 plants belonging to Dicots, Monocots and Gymnosperms.

4. Phytochemical and Pharmacognostical studies on a large number of medicinal plants such as:

1) Piper galeatum, 2) Piper hymenophyllum,.3) Piper argyrophyllum, 4) Ceriops tagal, 5)  Ficus benghalensis, 6)  Ficus religiosa, 7) Lagerstroemia flos-reginae, 8) Woodfordia floribunda, 9) Sida  veronicaefolia,10) Euphorbia thymifolia, 11) E. hirta, l2) Ammania baccifer,.13) Lawsonia inermis, 14) Artocarpus   heterophyllus, 15) Cassia alata,.16) Jatropha curcas ,  17) Jatropha gossypifolia, 18) Aerva lanata, 19) Hedyotis corymbosa, 20) Leptadenia reticulata,. 21) Barringtionia acutangula, 22) Hedyotis corymbosa, 23) Glinus oppositifolius, 24) Ichnocarpus frutescens,. 25) Carica papaya 26) Streblus asper,  27) Piper mullesua, 28) Costus pictus, 29) Piper hapnium,. 30) Stemodia viscosa  and 31)Aerva lanata:

5. Research articles in National and International journals: Published 166 (the number is growing) research articles in National and International journals
6. Books Published =  17 (One in press)

Publications: Books

Research Projects

1. Allelopathic and Phytochemical studies on some trees introduced in social forestry  programme. Funded by UGC June 1996 to Dec. 2000. Rs. 273,200/-

2. An In-Depth study and documentation of floristic components of Gujarat for trends in Speciation, Utility and Bioprospecting Funded by UGC July, 2005 to June, 2008. Rs. 695,000/-

3. Co-Ordiantor, DST-FIST programme, Department of Botany, MSU. Rs. 28 lacs.

4. Medicinal Plant Garden for conservation, preservation and development, Funded by National Medicinal Plant Board, New Delhi. Jan. 2008 to March 2011 Rs. 11 lacs

5. Ex-situ conservation efforts through strengthening of existing Botanical garden towards implementation of ESM plan for CAD phase 1. Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited, Gujarat. Nov. 2010 to Oct. 2015 Rs. 20,21,800/- (As Co-Principal Investigator)

Patents Filed

1.    Aloe vera (L.) Burm. F. Seeds, its oil properties and conversion  to Biodiesel.   Patent         No. 2502/MUM/2007

Ph.D. Theses Guided

1. Geetha G. Nair. Chemosystematics of the Convolvulaceae, 1986.
2. Mangalan, S. Chemosystematics of some selected taxa of the Caryophyllales, 1989.
3. J. Thomas. Chemosystematic and Pharmacognostic studies on some Indian Members of the Rubiaceae, 1990.
4. Joy Abraham, K. Phytoalexins and other post-infectional compounds of some economically important trees of Gujarat, 1990.
5. Umadevi. Phytochemistry and Systematics of the Sapindales and related taxa, 1990.
6. Alpana Gupte. Phytochemical and taxonomic studies on Acanthaceae and related taxa, 1995.
7. Darshika Parikh. Studies on the Post-infectional chemical changes in some economically important plants, 1995.
8. Daksha Parmar. Phytochemical and allelopathic studies on some trees recommended under social forestry programme, 1995.
9. Julie Sebastian. Studies on the chemical inter-relationships of Cuscuta and its hosts, 1997.
10. Chitra Arya. Studies on the Phytoalexins and post infectional compounds of some Indian trees, 1998.
11. Latha Sadanandan. Studies on the allelopathic interactions and phytochemistry of certain trees recommended in social forestry programmes. 2002.
12. Mariamma Joseph. Studies on the chemistry and Taxonomy of some Indian members of the Piperaceae. 2002.
13. Sallykutty Thomas. Studies on the pharmacognosy and phytochemistry of medicinally in important species of Euphorbia Linn. and Jatropha Linn. (Euphorbiaceae).  2007
14. Ramya Ramachandran: Antidiabetic properties of some selected Indian Plants,2008
15. Anamika Kumari. Studies on the Chemical Diversity and Biomarkers of the Plants   Used as Bala and Bioprospecting of their Allied Species, 2009
16. Dipa Gohil: In-Depth studies on the floristic elements of Gujarat for trends in speciation and Bioprospecting, 2012.
17. Amit Gohil: Phytochemical and pharmacognostic studies on some substiutes of common medicinal plants.

Other Academic Activities

• Chairman, Faculty Board, Faculty of Science, M.S. University, in 2009
• Member, Faculty Board, Faculty of Science since 1990 till 2011.
• Chairman (5 years) and Member, Board of Studies in Botany since, 1985
• Member, Research Advisory and Monitoring Committee(RAMC) for Botanical Survey of India, Appointed by Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Govt. of India.
• Member, Advisory Board, Navarachana University, Baroda

Awards

1. Awarded “Life Time Achievement award in Life Sciences” by Indian Society of Solid State Chemists and allied Branches at International Conference on Futuristic materials in Forensic sciences and Life Sciences, Dept of Chemistry, Nagpur on 5^th 2015.
2. “Marthoma manava Seva Award-2015”. The highest recognition from Syrian Christian Marthoma Church, Kerala on 2^nd 2015.