Course Information & Syllabus
Bio-technology is a highly interdisciplinary subject encompassing biological sciences, process engineering and technology. The scope and application of the subject is manifold, spanning from synthesizing genetically modified food, drought resistant crops in agricultural sciences; tissue engineering, drug designing in medical field and also in areas such as bioinformatics and aquatic living systems. Besides, the subject also involves studies on public policy planning, such as use of genetically modified food and ethical issues involved with it, tampering the crop/gene to make them disease resistant and embryonic stem cell technology to name a few. The versatility of the subject is in understanding how living organisms work at a microscopic level and to find remedies/solution to make living things to work in a way that we expect. Unlike other engineering subjects, Bio-technology deals with tailoring the living systems, whose outcome might turn benignant or malignant.
Scope :
For a developing country such as India, the agricultural community is dependent on regular monsoon rains for good yield. With global warming, it has been predicted that rain fall patterns may be erratic. To be dependent on single natural factor to help in good agricultural productivity is a risk, which is not worth taking. Instead, crops can be made adaptable to the extremes of weather such as drought resistant seeds, moisture retaining crops; all these can be possible with help of Bio-technology. Besides, the use of pesticides can be also made redundant, if pest resistant seeds can be developed. Similarly, in medical arena, gene therapy can help people to reduce the risk of preventing hereditary diseases.
Employment Opportunities :
Corporate and public R&D organizations recruit biotechnology personnel in good numbers. As the employers realize the need for indigenous development of ideas domestically, they look for good quality personnel to ramp up their operations. Besides, research organizations also see good scope for new and improved products and processes in medical, agricultural fields; they are on a constant look out for motivated personnel. 