Biotech beckons With the biotechnology sector expected to add 10 lakh jobs by 2012, it is a happening career destination, writes Neeraj Bagga FROM the present employee strength of 50,000, the number of jobs in the biotechnology sector is projected to increase by 10 lakh by 2012. Set to witness an IT-like revolution in the country, this field is now a hot career option for students. Biotechnology is a multi-disciplinary course that aims to meet the growing demand for trained manpower in the field. The programmes are designed to expose the students to recent developments in the areas of genetic engineering and biotechnology and their application in industry, agriculture and medicine. The study of biotechnology covers varied subjects like food, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, industrial crops, genetic engineering, environment and so on. The Department of Biotechnology, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar, is one of the destinations for students aiming to do a Master’s and/or Ph.D in this subject. It has 16 seats for its M.Sc course in biotech. Eligibility The students who have a Bachelor’s degree in physical, biological, agricultural, veterinary or fishery sciences, pharmacy, engineering/technology, or those who’ve done a four-year B.S (Physician Assistant) course, or MBBS/BDS course with at least 55 per cent marks can apply for the biotech programme. Admission is made on the basis of a national-level Combined Entrance Examination held every year at about 55 centres. Leading educationists of the country have been advocating uniformity in syllabus for all university-level courses throughout India. Biotechnology is one of the subjects that has a uniform syllabus. The GNDU’s Biotechnology Department is the only department that is a part of the national centre and receives a regular annual grant of Rs 7 lakh. Besides, each student is given Rs 800 as scholarship per month. Placement prospects After completing their M.Sc, biotech students can be absorbed in a variety of organisations—private, corporate and government. Companies associated with pharmaceuticals, plant biotechnology, plant tissue culture and industries involved in manufacturing commercially important enzymes, in vaccine development, crop improvement and animal husbandry need biotechnologists. For instance, Nisha of Jammu, who did her M.Sc in biotech from GNDU this year, has been selected in the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), Bangalore. Vishal Chaturvedi of Ajmer and Prabhjot Singh of New Delhi, both of whom also passed out this year, received JRF fellowships in the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and the CSIR, Hyderabad, respectively. The department is carrying out research in advance methodology of biotechnology, including molecular biology for drought adaptation of crops, production of industrially important enzymes, application of tissue culture for producing pharmaceutically active compounds from plants and neuronal plasticity in adult brain. Course clues During the two-year course M.Sc programme, students are imparted theoretical and practical training in cell biology, biomolecules, biochemical and biophysical techniques, biology of immune system, microbial physiology and molecular genetics. Students are also trained in specialised areas of plant tissue culture, animal tissue culture, molecular biology, genetic engineering (tools and techniques), bioprocess engineering and technology, fermentation technology, genetic engineering applications, computer applications and bio-statistics, genomic and functional genomic. In the last leg of the course, students are required to work on a small independent research project to sharpen their scientific skills and knowledge. Graded seminars are also conducted. In addition, students have to undergo training in biotechnology-based industries for two months. Future scenario Out of all areas of biotechnology, bioinformatics has acquired great importance and progressed phenomenally. Bioinformatics is an evolving science defined as the generation, organisation and analysis of biological data. It encompasses all biological phenomenon. It is an emerging field that lies at the intersection of biology, information technology, computer science and genetic engineering and is used extensively in leading research laboratories, hospitals and pharmaceutical and agri-technical corporations. Sensing its potential, the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, has sanctioned a Distributed Informatics Sub-Centre (DISC) for the GNDU with all the required infrastructure. The objective of the DISC is to access worldwide biotechnology information from international resources, to act as the nodal point for the national bioinformatics network designed to bridge the inter-disciplinary gaps in biotechnology information, to establish links among scientists in this region with other organisations involved in R&D and manufacturing activities.
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