Ayurvedic Drug Testing and Standardization Laboratory

About Us Team Facility Research Activities Publications Ongoing Projects Drug Testing Facility Events

About us

ADTSL was conceptualised in 2015 and functional in 2016 under a TATA Trusts grant (ID:Health-BSDT-20151007) for infrastructure and instrumentation, with the able guidance of our Director, Prof. Emeritus Dr Sadanand Sardeshmukh; Deputy Director Dr Vineeta Deshmukh; and Research Advisor Late Dr Sudha Gangal. Former Prof. Emeritus Dr Vidya Gupta joined as Research Advisor and has been our mentor since 2017. We have also received CSR funding from Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited, Pune, to upgrade our lab.

We are ISO 9001:2015 certified with a scope of Testing and Standardization of Drugs used in Indian Systems of Medicine, Botanical Drugs, Nutraceuticals and Food Commodity (IAF Code 34).

Team

Dr Sandeep Chavan

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5995-6475

MD (Ayurved) Rasashastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana,
PhD (Scholar)- Ayurveda Nutrition and Food Science

Research Officer

Lab In-charge

Mrs Smita Patil

BSc (Chemistry)

Analyst

Dr Bhagyashri Kumbhalkar

PhD (Botany)

Research Associate

Mr Tanhaji Walunj

MSc (Analytical Chemistry)

Research Associate

Dr Vidya Gupta

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6139-1346

FNAAS,
Former CSIR Emeritus Scientist and Emeritus Professor,
AcSIR Former Chair and Chief Scientist
Biochemical Sciences Division,
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune

Research Advisor

Dr Vineeta Deshmukh

B.A.M.S., M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., M.A. (Sanskrit), Diploma Diet, PGDCR

Deputy Director, BSDT’s ICTRC

Dr Sadanand Sardeshmukh

AVP, PhD, DSc.

Director, BSDT

Facility

We have a basic and advanced testing facility for Ayurvedic raw materials and finished products.

Database of plants 54, metals 04, minerals 10, non-metal 01, marine drugs 05, animal origin drugs 04, and intermediate products 23 which are tested in-house and in collaboration with other labs.
Collection of herbaria of identified plants 123, metals and minerals 18, plant microscopy slides 109, authenticated raw herbs and specimens 99.
Basic instrumentation such as Muffle Furnace, Hot Air Oven, Soxhlet Apparatus, Microscope, UV Spectrophotometer, Refractometer, Friability Apparatus, Disintegration apparatus, Tablet Hardness Tester, BOD Incubator, Biosafety Cabinet, Laminar Air-flow, etc. for physicochemical analysis of raw herbs, metals, minerals, finished products and commodities.
Well-equipped with sophisticated instruments for chromatography- HPLC (with autosampler) and GC and elemental assays- ICPOES (with autosampler) and Microwave Digestion System.
Developed 18 HPLC methods for various phytochemical reference standards and 22 ICPOES methods for elemental estimation in Ayurvedic herbs and formulations.
Recently added Microbiology Laboratory unit for microbial contamination testing and anti-microbial activity of herbs and Ayurvedic formulations.
Library with several authoritative books like Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, Indian Pharmacopoeia, Quality Standards of Indian Medicinal Plants, Flora of Maharashtra, etc. and classical Ayurveda texts.

Research activities

Key areas of research include Ayurveda, Rasashastra, Natural products, Nano-micro-medicines, standardization, validation, stability/ shelf life and safety studies, pre-clinical and clinical research. Following research activities conducted by our lab-

Preparation and Standardization of various categories of Ayurvedic drugs
Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Research at Raw Materials- In-process and Finished Products levels
Product Development, Process Validation and Drug Research Protocol preparation of herbal and herbo-mineral metallic formulations for various ailments
Safety/ toxicity, stability and mechanistic studies of Ayurvedic formulations

Past research projects:

An integral part of clinical trials entitled “Researching Ayurvedic methods and combining with allopathy for cancer treatment” for manufacturing, standardization and characterization of 14 herb-mineral-metallic formulations used in four clinical trials in cancer patients funded by Tata Trusts, Mumbai (2015-2021).
Co-investigation of the study entitled, “Studies to explore novel applications of Ayurvedic formulations used in the treatment of neural ailments” with Dr Nishigandha Naik, Ph.D.; ICMR Emeritus Scientist; Adjunct Professor – Institute of Chemical Technology; Adjunct Professor – G N Khalsa College; Former Director (I/C) -Haffkine Institute for Training, Research & Testing, Maharashtra (2020-2023).
Comparative physicochemical and HPLC analytical study of seeded and seedless grapes: A pilot study on market samples from three different brands (2022-2023).
Basic physicochemical analysis of Rasanjan (concentrate of Berberis aristata) and its capsule dosage form (2018-2019).

Publications

Click on pointer to know more.

a) Drug Research

A.Drug Research

b) Clinical Research

In-press articles- 02

Sadanand Sardeshmukh, Vineeta Deshmukh, Vasanti Godse, Shrinivas Datar, Swapna Kulkarni, Sneha Dalvi, Sushama Bhuvad, Shweta Gujar, Sandeep Chavan. Multimodal ayurvedic intervention provided long-term progression free survival to a female patient with recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue – A case report. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaim.2024.100984
Sadanand Sardeshmukh, Vineeta Deshmukh, Arvind Kulkarni, Shweta Gujar, Nilambari Sardeshmukh, Bhagyashree Sardeshmukh, Vinita Awalkanthe, Suchita Shiraskar, Dhananjay Deshpande, Sandeep Chavan, Vidya Gupta. Integration of Ayurvedic treatment with conventional cancer treatment achieved long term Progression Free Survival in patient of stage IV carcinoma of cervix with lung metastasis: A case report. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaim.2024.100990

Ongoing projects

“BSDT Flora” conceptualized by Dr Vidya Gupta and Dr Vineeta Deshmukh for identification of natural and introduced flora (around 250 species) within the institutional campus of 117 acres at Wagholi.
“Standardization and characterization of nutritional product made of raisins, dates and figs for breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy”- PhD work
“Standardization of Panchkarma medicines used in cancer patients at BSDT’s ICTRC”- In-house project
“Standardization and characterization of Praval Pishti Vati”- In-house project
“Study of physiochemical parameters and structural changes in Tamra/copper during samanya shodhana(quenching) with respect to liquid media and quenching sequence”- Technical service under CCRAS, New Delhi, India- SPARK Project
“Radioprotective activity of Ananta Vati (A herbal formulation of roots of Decalepis hamiltonii Wright & Arn) against Radiation induced side effects in oral cancer patients: A pilot Randomised study”- PhD study.

Drug Testing Facility

We are also equipped with basic physicochemical and advanced analysis of Ayurvedic formulations for in-house project samples as well as outside samples from Ayurvedic and multidisciplinary MD-PhD students. We have the following tests available currently-

Raw herbs	Identification and authentication, Description, Loss on drying, Total ash, Acid-insoluble ash, Water-soluble ash, Alcohol soluble extract, TLC
Raw metals and minerals
Pastes (Kalka), powders (Churna), concentrates (Ghana), Starch (Sattva)	Description, Loss on drying, Bulk density, Tapped density, Total ash, Acid-insoluble ash, Water-soluble ash, Alcohol soluble extract, pH, Sieve analysis, TLC
Liquids (Swaras, Kwath, Hima, Phanta, Arka, milk, buttermilk, sour gruel, cow’s urine)	Description, pH, Weight per ml, Total solid, Total ash, Acid-insoluble ash, Viscosity, TLC, Specific gravity, Total acidity, Uric acid, Lactose %,
Sugar-based (Avaleha/ Kalpa/ Modaka/ Khanda)	Description, Loss on drying, Bulk density, Tapped density, pH, Sieve analysis, TLC, Sugar types, Total Sugar %
Oil (Taila) and Ghee (Ghruta) based, ointments	Description, Refractive index, Weight per ml, Acid value, Peroxide value, Iodine value, Saponification value, Unsaponification value, TLC
Hydroalcoholic formulations (Asava-Arishta)	Description, pH, Weight per ml, Total solid, Viscosity, TLC, Specific gravity, Alcohol content, Methanol presence
Tablets and capsules (Guti- Vati- Guggulu)	Description, Dimensions, Average weight, Weight variation, Disintegration time, Friability test, Hardness, TLC, Water soluble extractive, Alcohol soluble extractive, Ash value, Acid insoluble ash, Water soluble ash
Incinerated (Bhasma), triturated (Pishti), Kshara (Alkali salts) formulations	Description, Loss on drying, Loss on ignition, Sieve analysis, Bulk density, Tapped density, Flowability, Qualitative assays
Rasa kalpa (Mercurial preparations)- tablet form	Description, Dimensions, Average weight, Weight variation, Disintegration time, Friability test, Hardness, TLC, Water soluble extractive, Alcohol soluble extractive, Ash value, Acid insoluble ash, Water soluble ash
Any formulation	Microbial load (TVC, TFC, Y&M; Specific pathogens- E coli, Pseudomonas, Streptococci, Staphylococci), Heavy metals- Hg, As, Pb, Cd; Elemental assay- Al, Ag, B, Ba, Ca, Cu, Co, Cr, Fe, Li, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, S, Sr, Tl, and Zn
Special assays	Phytochemical group quantification (Phenols, Tannins, Flavanoids), antioxidant assays (DPPH radical scavenging, phosphomolybdate assay)

Events

Participation in various conferences/ seminars/ workshops/ events

a) Conferences/ Seminars Presentations related to Cancer

Year	Particulars	Role	Organisers
2025	National Conference ‘Unveiling Panchmahabhuta in Ayurveda, Nutrition & Yoga’ Panchatattva 2025	Oral presentation¹, Best Oral Presentation Award	Department of Ayurveda and Yoga, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune
2022	VI^th International Conference on Ayurved for Cancer	Guest speaker², Delegate	Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust’s Integrated Cancer Treatment and Research Centre, Wagholi, Pune
2019	International Conference on Medicinal, Aromatic and Neutraceutical Plants from Mountainous Areas	Oral presentation³	Department of Life Sciences & Department of Biotechnology Graphic Era (Deemed to be University) and American Council for Medicinally Active Plants (ACMAP) at Dehradun, Uttarakhand
2018	14^th Indo-Australian Biotechnology Conference “Emerging modalities to improve cancer outcomes”	Poster presentation⁴	Tata Memorial Centre- Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Kharghar, Navi Mumbai
2017	V^th International Conference on Ayurved for Cancer	Paper presentation⁵, Poster presentation⁶, Delegate	Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust’s Integrated Cancer Treatment and Research Centre, Wagholi, Pune
2017	Amrita Samyogam 2017, International Conference on Integrative Ayurveda and Modern Medicine- Cancer Section	Poster presentation⁷, Delegate	Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Amrita School of Ayurveda and Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, Kerala
2016	Current trends in Oncology- Breast Chapter	Delegate	Grant Medical Foundation Ruby Hall Clinic Kamalnayan Bajaj Cancer Centre
2015	Seminar and Awareness Workshop for students on Integrative Oncology	Faculty Speaker	Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust’s Integrated Cancer Treatment and Research Centre, Mumbai Centre
2013	CME on Integrative Oncology and Critical Care for patients- An interactive Seminar for Primary Care Physician	Delegate	Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust’s Integrated Cancer Treatment and Research Centre, Wagholi, Pune
2012	IV^thInternational Conference on Ayurved for Cancer	Scientific paper presentation⁸, Invitee	Bharatiya Sanskriti Darshan Trust’s Integrated Cancer Treatment and Research Centre, Wagholi, Pune

Exploring the Panchbhoutikatva (Five Elements) of a vegetable soup: Product development, nutritional and clinical aspects
Drug standardization and preclinical studies of herbo metallic Ayurvedic medicines for cancer treatment w.r.t. Trailokyachintamani Rasa (TCR)
Phytochemical screening of Ayurvedic head massage oil formulation from Jatamansi (Nardostachys jatamansi) and its clinical evaluation in mental stress as a risk factor in cancer
Standardization of Aroyavardhini Vati to understand the mechanism of action as adjunct treatment in Cancer with special reference to Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC)
Standardization of Kamdudha Vati to understand the mechanism of action as adjunct treatment in Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy side effects- Paper
Standardization of Atharva Aloe Plus Tab to understand the mechanism of action as adjunct treatment in cancer with special reference to BRCA1/2 gene mutated breast cancer
Standardization of Kamdudha Rasa to understand the mechanism of action as adjunct treatment in Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy side effects.
Identification of Guduchi Sattva by Microscopy with special reference to use as immunomodulation in Cancer patients.

b) Resource person

Year	Particulars	Role	Organisers
2022	Continuing Education Programme for Teachers on “Panchakarma in Cancer”	Resource person¹	BSDT’s Ayurved Mahavidyalaya and BSDT’D ICTRC, co-ordinated by RAV and sponsored by Ministry of AYUSH

¹Standardization of medicines used in Panchkarma Treatment of cancer patients (w.r.t. Oral Cavity Cancers, Triple Negative Breast Cancer and BRCA1/2 gene mutated Breast Cancer)

c) Workshops and Trainings attended

Year	Workshop/ Training/ Module Title	Duration	Organised by
2025	Hands-on training of high-end (HPLC/LCMS/GCMS) analytical equipment	2 days	MACS- Agharkar Research Institute, Pune and Shri B V Patel Education Trust, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
2024	GOOD CLINICAL PRACTICE- Re-Certificate of Completion (2024-2027)	6 hours	NIDA Clinical Trials Network
2024	Certified Peer Reviewer Course	12 modules	Researcher Academy, Elsevier
2024	CiteScore for early career researchers (online)	1 day	Researcher Academy, Elsevier
2020	Trained AYUSH Doctor for COVID-19 Preparedness, Response and Containment	1 day	Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Mumbai and Directorate of AYUSH, Maharashtra
2020	GOOD CLINICAL PRACTICE- Certificate of Completion (2020-2023)	6 hours	NIDA Clinical Trials Network
2020	Workshop on interpretation of instrumental methods (WIIM-2020): UV-VIS, FTIR, BET Surface Area, Particle Size Distribution, Zeta Potential Measurement, Contact Angle Measurement, XRF and FESEM	5 days	Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology & CSIR- National Metallurgical Laboratory (Madras Centre), Chennai
2019	Workshop on Writing Science (Wo’W Science’19)	13 days	Science Media Centre; Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune funded by Vigyan Prasar; Department of Science and Technology (DST), GOI
2016	Basics of ICPOES & iCAP 7400 Duo Operation	3 days	Thermo Fisher Scientific Training Centre, Powai, Mumbai
2016	Workshop on Standardization of Medicinal Plants	2 days	MAC’S Agharkar Research Institute, Pune
2016	Thermofisher Scientific Dionex U3000 HPLC & Chromeleon 6.8 software Operational & Application Training for Antibiotic and Natural Product Analysis using	2 days	Thermofisher Scientific India, Powai Lab, Mumbai
2016	The Training Programme on Gas Chromatography	3 days	Thermo Fisher Scientific India Pvt. Ltd.
2013	Workshop on Ayurvedic/ Herbal Drug Analysis	2 days	Total Herb Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Lower Parel, Mumbai

d) Attended for scientific updates:

Year	Details	Organisers
2025	Management of chronic ailments using Bhallathaka preparations	PDEA’s College of Ayurveda & Research Center, Pune and Heritage Malabar Ayurveda Pharmacy Pvt Ltd at Aundh, Pune
2025	A Round Table on “Ethics Committee Review of Ayurveda Research Protocols”	BSDT’s ICTRC, Wagholi, Pune and IEC & Ayush CoE, SPPU, Pune
2024	The World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) 10^th ed., Dehradun, India	World Ayurveda Foundation, Bangalore
2023	Best of ASCO India 2023 Conference	ICON Educational Activities & Conferences
2023	7^th IAVC International Ayurveda Congress- 2023, Kathmandu, Nepal	International Ayurveda Academy, Pune; International Maharshi AyurVeda Foundation, The Netherlands; Ayurveda Doctors’ Association of Nepal; All India Ayurvedic Congress, New Delhi
2018	8^th World Ayurveda Congress & Arogya 2018, Ahmedabad	Ministry of AYUSH, Govt of India and World Ayurveda Foundation, Bangalore
2016	1^st International Conference on Advances in Asian Medicine	IASTAM India and BVU College of Ayurved
2015	Ayushman Bharat 2015 at Kala Academy, Panaji, Goa	Arogya Bharati, Bharatiya Sanskruti Prabodhini, NMPB and Ministry of AYUSH, GOI
2014	Tadvidya Sambhasha Ayurveda IX- Reinventing Ayurveda	Dr. Palep’s Medical Education and Research Trust, Mumbai

e) Webinars attended:

Year	Details	Organisers
2021	National Conference on “Fruits and Vegetables for Health and Nutrition” in commemoration of International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 2021	Karnataka Science and Technology Academy and Vigyan Prasar, Bengaluru
2021	Webinar on importance of WHO-GMPs for Ayurveda Industry	PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi
2021	Publishing Scientific papers in the 21^st Century	John Wiley & Sons, Singapore
2021	14^th Cancer Management Course Clinical Practice Guidelines, 6 Mar 2021 (No: MMC/Accre.Cert/OTI-0258/2014/Dated: 04/03/2021, Webinar Code-MMC/WEB/2021/C-000465	Grant Medical Foundation, Ruby Hall Clinic, Kamalnayan Bajaj Cancer Centre, Pune

Workshops conducted:

We have independently conducted two workshops for doctors and students to acquaint them with drug testing basics and applications.

Workshop on Advanced Research Tools for Ayurvedic Medicines was Jointly conducted by BSDT’s Integrated Cancer Treatment & Research Centre: Ayurvedic Drug Testing & Standardization Laboratory, Biological Sciences Research Laboratory, and BSDT’s Ayurved Mahavidyalaya in January 2023.