The course aims at training the students in basic biochemical techniques and instrumentation. Biochemical techniques include pH metry, colorimetry, spectrophotometry, chromatography, electrophoresis etc. Quantitative estimation of various biomolecules such as carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, lipids and nucleic acids, determination of Km value and enzyme inhibition are also done.

The course on Developmental Biology has been aimed to provide students with the comprehensive knowledge on the important aspects of ontogenetic development - as the current knowledge in several aspects of animal development has been substantially expanding through experimentation in science, On this multidisciplinary approach, in the first section - many aspects of gametogenesis, fertilization, cleavage, gastrulation have been included. The role of nucleus and cytoplasm in governing developmental processes, genetic regulation of development, embryonic induction, competence, and differentiation have been included in the next section. The third section deals with post-embryonic developmental program, human foetal development and birth defects.

This is a course on two interrelated areas viz. Genetics and Evolution. In the Genetics section - focus is given to Mendelian genetics, classical genetics & quantitative genetics Considerable emphasis is given to human genetics and in the section on microbial genetics, transformation, plasmids and genetic fine structure. Evolution accounts for diversity of life through descent with modification. It helps to understand the origin, diversity, meaning and purpose of life and to identify the place of human beings in nature. The evolution section of the course includes history of evolutionary thought, Darwinism and current challenges, molecular phylogeny and evolutionary clock, isolating mechanisms, speciation and transpecific evolution. Due emphasis is given to biological and cultural evolution of man, evolutionary future of mankind, cosmic aspects of evolution and philosophical issues pertaining to evolution.

This lab course supplements the theory course on Genetics - Evolution and Developmental Biology. Exercises in Genetics include Mendelian ratios and Chi-square test, Probability, Chromosomal aberrations, Analysis of quantitative traits and multiple alleles. Exercises in Evolution laboratory are designed to understand Darwinian syllogism, demonstration of Natural selection and Genetic drift and creative aspect of selection. Practical exercises relating to gamete formation, induced ovulation, parthenogenesis, ontogeny of Indoplanorbis sp. Frog, chick and regeneration are included in Developmental Biology Laboratory.

This course deals with the biology of microorganisms and their impacts on human welfare. It includes scope, history, systematic growth, culture methods, metabolism, reproduction and application of microorganisms. The basic and applied aspects of Microbiology like sterilization techniques, interaction of microbes with biological systems, microbes on foods, microbial diseases and control measures are dealt. It also covers biomass production and application of microorganisms in industrial productions.

This laboratory course is designed to carry out experiments on basic microbiological techniques and the applications of microorganisms. It includes microbial culture, morphology, staining techniques, isolation and identification of microbes from soil, water, food and body fluids aimed at studying agriculturally and medically important microorganisms. Students are trained on screening and improvement of industrially important strains. A special emphasis is given to the production of secondary metabolites and biomass utilization.

Biological chemistry as a science concerned with the chemical basis of life deals with the various molecules and their chemical reactions that occur in living cells and organisms. The course gives comprehensive coverage of chemistry, structure and metabolism of macromolecules such as carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, lipids and nucleic acids. Enzyme concepts and their kinetics dealt in detail. Convergence of intermediary metabolic pathways at TCA cycle and electron transport chain are also discussed.

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Keeping in mind the enormous development in the understanding of properties of living cells especially in areas relating to cell organization and behaviour, the course on Molecular Biology of the cell is designed with the scope of making students understand the subject comprising three areas; First introducing techniques in cell biology and fundamental principles, secondly make students understand the ultrastructure and functions of the various components of the cells at molecular level and finally appreciate the mechanism of cell division - regulation of cell cycle and the nature of cancer cells.

This recombinant DNA technology course deals with construction of recombinant DNA and its applications. It explains various techniques involved in DNA isolation, DNA manipulation, construction of recombinant DNA, transformation and transfection. Biology of cloning vectors for E. coli, yeast, animal cells and plants are included. It also deals with various methods of screening and selection of recombinant clones and expression of heterologous proteins from cloned gene. Genomics and Human Genome Project is also included.

Cell biology section enables the students to measure the cell, study the differentiation of cells according to different functions they perform, the functional dynamics with reference to the permeability of membrane. Recombinant DNA technology course deals with construction of recombinant DNA and its applications. It explains various technologies involved in DNA isolation, DNA manipulation, construction of recombinant DNA, transformation and transfection techniques; Biology of cloning vectors for various organisms such as E. coli, yeast, animal cells and plants. It also deals with various screening and selection techniques. The expression of heterologous proteins from cloned gene is also explained.

This course deals with the mechanisms of physiological activities of animals and the structure and function of the ecosystem and its impact on animals and human. The physiology part of the course deals with the diversity of functions of the living organism encompassing nutrition, digestion, respiration, excretion, circulation, cybernetics, sensory systems and other applied aspects. Influence of surrounding media and time on the physiology of invertebrate and vertebrate organ systems is given importance. Physiology of organisms in different environs like high altitude and diving is given importance in addition to the study on physiological parameters with reference to stress and clinical conditions. In the Environmental Biology section, emphasis is on the principles and concepts of environment, food chain, food web, energy flow, biogeochemical cycles, biotic community, ecological dominance and paleoecology. Great deal of insight is given to population dynamics, distribution, population indices and for human population growth. In system ecology and habitat ecology thrust is on mathematical models and the zonation of different habitats. The last part deals with the application ecology, conservation and earth summit. Current environmental issues, like conservation of biology and pollution biology are given importance.

This laboratory course helps the students to design and conduct a set of experiments in eco-physiology. Experiments in physiology are framed with simple techniques and direct and indirect function measurements. Exercises on digestion, osmo-iono and thermal regulation, nitrogen excretion, respiration and chronobiology are carried out under standard laboratory conditions. Experiments on the study of ecosystems - principles and applied aspects of environmental biology are dealt.

This course explains the molecular basis of life. Life is viewed as a property of matter and the nucleic acid genome is considered as the molecular blueprint of life, which stores not only information but also a program for its perpetuation, expression and control. The course deals with the nucleic acid nature of the genome, the molecular structures of DNA and RNA. Molecular mechanisms of replication, recombination, transposition and repair of DNA are also dealt with in detail. Emphasis is given to molecular basis of transcription, post transcriptional processing, genetic code and translation. Current understanding of the mechanism of gene regulation in prokaryotes and eukaryotes is also discussed.

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This course provides basic laboratory exercises to enable the students to understand concepts in Immunobiology. It includes differential count, laboratory exercise on raising polyclonal antibodies, complement mediated lysis. Comprehensive study on the lymphoid organs in selected vertebrates is done. Students are trained in the isolation of cells measuring hypersensitivity reaction and transplants in fish.

This course aims at an understanding of structural and functional uniqueness of Insect groups. This course comprises two major aspects: insect taxonomy, dealing with outline classification of class Insecta upto orders with an emphasize on certain important families. Functional morphology, covering various structural and functional features that have made the insects the most successful animal group.

This lab course is designed to supplement its theory counterpart. Students are trained to collect - identify and preserve insects at selected locations and trained to prepare dichotomous key. Study on selected insects on various systems will be done. Field trips are to be arranged to make the students familiar with insect ecosystem and biodiversity.

This course deals with the basic and applied aspects of animal tissue culture and animal transgenesis, plant tissue culture and plant genetic engineering. In the animal biotechnology part the methods involved in the culture of animal cells, tissues and organs, gene transfer to cultured animals cells - in vitro fertilization and production and application of transgenic animals are included. The section on plant biotechnology explains development of transgenic plants through tissue culture and gene transfer techniques using cultured tissues or cells. It also describes plant genome mapping and genome engineering.

The course deals with methods of culture of animal and plant tissues. Primary and secondary cultures of chick/mouse embryo cells. Preparation of culture media for animal cells and demonstration and operation of animal cell culture units are done in animal tissue cultures. In plant tissue culture initiation, callus culture, large-scale cultivation of plant cells in suspensions, induction of differentiation by modifying hormones are done.

Immunobiology provides a comprehensive coverage of the essential concepts and the current understanding of cellular and molecular events underlying immunity. This course on immunobiology dealt with cells, and organs of immune system, antigen, antibody, structure and diversity antigen-antibody interactions. It also includes major histocompatibility complex, Immunoregulation, Immunotolerance and complement. Clinical aspects such as hypersensitivity reactions, auto immunity, disorders of immune response, transfusion and transplantation immunology and tumour Immunology are also dealt. Basic concepts and principles on the evolution of immunity are also discussed.

 

The course is designed to highlight the enormous impact of insects in human welfare. It deals with topics such as productive and beneficial insects, agricultural pests, forest and medical entomology and insects infecting the stored products. Various insets pest control measures, role of insecticides, their impact on environment and the need for Integrated Pest Management are covered in detail.

This laboratory course complements the theory course. Students will be trained to use various insect traps to assess insect pest population. Biology of silkworm is studied to make the students familiar with the rearing techniques. Extensive work on maintaining and evaluating the role of a predator and a parasitoid will be done. Exercises on evaluation of stomach poisons and chitin inhibition in a polyphagous pest and pesticide residue analysis are carried out.

This course deals with the principles, procedures and applications of advanced immunological tools and techniques. The immunological techniques include detection and testing standard of antigens, HLA antigens, antibodies and cell mediated immunity. The section on Immuno technology includes methods in the production of monoclonal antibodies and their applications in clinical diagnosis and treatment. T-cell cloning, immunologically relevant antigens, application in vaccine development, modern strategies and methods in vaccine development and delivery are also dealt. The students are exposed to tailor-made antibody production strategies and their applications.

This lab course is a supportive course to its theory counterpart. Students are introduced to the various tools and techniques that form the basis for the antigen -antibody assays and cellular assays. A special emphasis is given to the strategies for producing immunodiagnostic kits.

This course focuses on abatement of the effects of pollutants - heading the damage caused to the environment by technological activities and ecofriendly methods for sustainable development using biotechnology. Various types of bioreactors, biofilters, bioscrubbers form the subject matter under pollution abatement. It also includes detoxification, microbial transformation of pesticides, biosorption, bioleaching which orient the learner towards the remediation of environment. Biofuels, bioproducts for agriculture, bioplastics, biosensors and biodiversity enlighten the students on sustainable development.

This is a supportive course designed to ensure better understanding of the principles and concepts of Environmental Biotechnology. Biotreatment of waste water, Biofertilizers, Biodegradation of organic molecules and pesticides, Biocontrol of vectors and industrial visit form the core course work.

The Research Project aims at sharpening the student’s spirit of scientific inquiry and to train the students in analysing interpreting the data them and drawing valid conclusions. The students are allowed to choose the problems in subject areas of their own interest. The students’ initiative and inventiveness in designing experiments are encouraged. The research projects sequentially spread over the third and the fourth semesters - is evaluated at the end of the fourth semester.

Bioinformatics is a recent, rapidly growing, multidisciplinary field of science involving biology, mathematics, computer science and information technology. It deals with the storage, acquisition, retrieval of biological information and analyzing them. The objective of this course is to introduce the students to the vast amount of biological information existing as various databases and give them an orientation on how they are analyzed using bioinformatics tools. The initial part of this course is designed to provide the essential background information on computer networking and molecular biology necessary for the understanding and appreciation of bioinformatics. Further, the course includes topics on various genetic, protein - biodiversity and other databases, tools for searching and analysis of biological data and the myriad applications of this field.