Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Pune

Every year, IBB conducts an open entrance exam to select new admissions from students who have completed their XII Std. The program leads to an integrated M.Sc/M.Tech degree in 5/6 years, respectively. It also conducts a M.Sc. Virology course for graduate students in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology, Pune. For all this, IBB has devised interdisciplinary courses with contemporary syllabi that will prepare the students for careers in modern biotechnology. Along with developing strong theoretical foundations, a great deal of emphasis is laid on imparting practical training in our well-equipped laboratories. IBB’s unique curriculum teaches students in small groups which encourages self-evaluation, independent thinking and confidence to deliver seminars. In fact, in their final year, IBB requires that students submit a thesis based on original research that is peer reviewed. Our students have opportunities to spend at least one semester for conducting research at other National Institutes/Universities across the country and even abroad. Similarly, talented students from other colleges and institutes are encouraged to carry out research projects at IBB.

In academics, many of our students are pursuing their Ph.D programs in India and in elite universities abroad. Some of them have even secured admission in top-class management institutes while others have taken up entrepreneurship development. Needless to say, all this is possible because of the dedication of the highly qualified teaching faculty and the ever-helping non-teaching staff.

The R&D programs of IBB are well integrated with its academic programs. High quality research work is being carried out in frontier topics like biofuels, biomaterials, bionanotechnology, environmental biotechnology, microbial and molecular genetics, biotherapeutics, natural products, etc. The work has led to a very large number of research publications in the best of journals having high impact factor and produced PhDs. These well laid out R & D programs are also of national and regional relevance and have a special emphasis on realizing industrial applications through sustainable development. This has resulted in IBB securing funds for sponsored research programs from DST, DBT, CSIR, BRNS and national/ multinational industries.

‘Biotechnology’ and ‘Bioinformatics’ are scientific areas that will contribute significantly towards improving health, alleviating hunger while providing better quality of life in the 21st century. Towards this goal, the Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBB), University of Pune, set up under the aegis of UGC’s University for Potential of Excellence in 2003, is committed to conducting modern academic and R&D programs that will produce talented and professional postgraduates who will become the leaders of tomorrow in these frontier areas. Biotechnology of today draws knowledge from other basic sciences, namely, physics, chemistry and mathematics to understand the patterns and rules followed by natural systems. Engineering applications of biotechnology are also vast and mind-boggling. It caters to industrial sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, agriculture, animal husbandry, material science, environment, energy, biosensors, and many many more. Specializing in biotechnology and bioinformatics will therefore provide wide scope of career opportunities for youngsters to mould their future.