Biotechnology is a technology based on biology. Basically it has applications in many areas that include health care, crop production, better variety of food and protection of environment. It helps improve our lives by providing vaccines to save millions of lives and preventing rare and untreated diseases as also reducing rates of infectious diseases and creating tools for the detection of diseases. In the field of medicine, it has found applications in drug production, pharmaceuticals, genomics, gene therapy, genetic screening to detect genetic diseases, etc. It encompasses diverse areas of study like molecular biology, tissue culture, agricultural engineering, fisheries, genetics or even medicine.
In the agriculture sector, biotechnology is used to increase yields, preventing damage from insects and pests and improving crop insect resistance. Because of Biotechnology, farmers are using less pesticide on their crops so as to reduce soil tillage. Through this technology, drought-resistant crops are being developed which enable agricultural production to withstand adverse growing conditions. It is creating biodegradable plastics made from renewable sources. These plastics are versatile and help us reduce our use of petrochemicals.
Biotechnology plays a fundamental role in developing sustainable solutions for many of today’s most critical environmental concerns. Biotech breakthroughs help reduce air emissions and water pollution while enabling the development of sustainable, earth-friendly products. Biotechnology helps reducing our environmental problems, generating processes cleaner and more efficient by reducing toxic chemical pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Due to high population rate, biotechnology industry has a big scope in India.
Besides, biotechnologists find jobs in the research laboratories, research and development centres, pharmaceutical companies, and agricultural, chemical and allied industries, animal husbandry, medicine, crime and parentage disputes, cell biology, ecology, soil conservation science, physiology of plants, biostatistics, forestry and fisheries, etc. Biotechnology is ranked second as a growth sector after multimedia industry with a tremendous employment potential.
Eligibility:
10+2 with science including Biology/Agriculture
Undergraduate Courses:
A biotechnology course includes a (B.Sc. / B.Tech.) degree in Biochemistry, Genetics, Microbiology, Chemistry, Virology, Immunology and Engineering.
Professional Institutions:
Biotechnology as an undergraduate course is taught in almost every university of India. Some of these are mentioned below:
- Indian Institute of Technology – IIT (Chennai; Guwahati; Kharagpur; Roorkee).
- Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad. Web : http://www.mnnit.ac.in/
- National Institute of Technology – NIT (Calicut; Durgapur; Raipur).
- Kurukshetra University, Haryana. Web : https://www.kuk.ac.in/
- Lovely Professional University (LPU), Punjab. Web : https://www.lpu.in/
- Maharshi Dayanand University, Haryana. Web : http://mdu.ac.in/
- Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agnculture & Technology, Uttar Pradesh. Web : http://www.svbpmeerut.ac.in/
- Thapar University, Punjab. Web : http://www.thapar.edu/
Placements:
Centres for cellular and molecular biology, research institutes, botanical institutes, laboratories, etc.
