Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology

Vision

The current millennium is the age of biological sciences. Today, we have the conceptual, experimental and mathematical tools to understand the complexity of inputs that go into the integrated study of the Science of Life. Also, with changing modes of production and climate change, the role of Life Sciences is increasing rapidly to the extent that our long-term wellbeing would be highly dependent on our understanding of the biological processes. The distinction between basic knowledge and its application towards the betterment of human existence has mostly ceased to exist.

The Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology (FLSB) has a broad sweep, so as to offer a well planned selection of courses that enable flexibility and lateral integration while maintaining the coherence and rigor of specific disciplines. The options include basic areas of study as well as those geared towards our practical needs in agriculture, health and industry. In research, the Faculty encourages complete academic freedom and collaboration with other Faculties including those of the Physical and Social Sciences. It strives for originality and innovation that gives it a prominent place in the web of science as also lend it international visibility and connectivity.
 

The Faculty trains postgraduate students in wide spectrum of Life Sciences. The endeavor of the Faculty is to teach the latest concepts and research technologies and prepare the students for careers in research and teaching in modern biology and biotechnology. The areas covered includes Molecular and Cellular Biology; Biotechnology; Microbiology and Immunology; Molecular Medicine; Genomics, Genetics and Evolutionary Biology; Biotechnology in plants; Neurosciences; Cancer Biology; Ecology and Biodiversity; Stem cell Biology; Fermentation and Biochemical engineering; Structural Biology and Synthetic Biology. Students are offered training in the intellectual property rights and entrepreneurship so that they may also explore starting their own enterprises as creative entrepreneurs.
 

Degrees to be awarded

 

Faculty and teaching load

The FLSB faculty comes from a wide spectrum of research fields in biological sciences. The current faculty strength is eleven. All faculty members irrespective of their positions are expected to actively participate in the teaching programs of FLSB. Each faculty member will offer some fundamental / core courses as well as specialized courses in their respective areas of teaching and research interest.

 

Manpower

Besides faculty strength of 11, the number of MSc students in the Faculty is around 60. Additionally, research fellows / post-doctoral fellows/ visiting scientists are also working.

 

Research Facilities

The Faculty provides some seed funds to faculty members for running their research programs but all faculty members are encouraged to bring their own research money in the form of research grants from government, national and international funding agencies and the industry. 
A State of the art Central Instrumentation Facility (CIF) is established in the Faculty for use by all faculty members, students and researchers. The CIF houses PCR and Real Time PCR machine, 2D Gel Electrophoresis, Gel documentation system, Flow Cytometer, Direct and Inverted Microscope, Fluorescent Microscopes, Stereozoom Microscope, High Speed and Ultracentrifuges, HPLC, Biosafety Hoods and Apotome. Apart from this we also have specialized facilities for Mammalian cell culture, Drosophila culture, Imaging and Protein purification. The faculty is establishing Plant growth and tissue culture facility and Small Animal House facility in near future. Also, we are in the process of procuring equipments like Phosphorimager, FPLC, FACS aria, Confocal Microscope, Light scattering device and spectroflourometer.