No Knowledge without College!

Entrance Exam Phobia:
It was in the first week of May, 2008 that I had just finished my graduation from B.S.A College with Zoology, Botany and Chemistry and the big question was in front of me, where to get admission for my M.Sc ?.
Although I have been an above average student throughout my carrier but still has faced a no. of unnecessary problems because of my bad luck. My passion has always been to learn and understand the basis of life at molecular level so was greatly interested in pursuing my masters in biotechnology or biochemistry. The competition for M.Sc in Biotech as well as in Biochemistry was too stuff and with minimal amount of knowledge acquired by my own efforts it always looks to me uphill task. The problems were not at all limited to my basic knowledge which I could improve, but the main problem was my shy nature and my homesickness and always wanted to remain close to my home so was not interested in filling application forms for far away university as well as my university session was also going too late and I was in the doubt that even if I will make it to a good university then still it would be much tough to get admitted.
I had applied for M.Sc in Biochemistry in Jamia Millia Islamia, with a slight ray of hope and had cleared its written test. The interview was scheduled just two days later and I decided to give it my best shot. I almost skipped my lunch and dinner for the last two days the syllabus was huge to revise and being haunted by the fact that if not this exam then I will have to take a year drop.
With mixed feelings of exam phobia, and the load of my parents expectations on my shoulder I entered into the interview hall.
The first person I saw was a lady Dr Seemi Fahrat Basir and along with her was sitting Prof. Luqman Ahmed Khan from dept. of Biochemistry.
Dr Seemi very generously asked me to have a seat I sat down thinking that now I am going to be slaughtered.
The questions were basic in nature and I almost answered them all. At last Dr Seemi asked me where do you see yourself if you are selected and if not what will you do ?
I answered her simply that mam, I have lived everyday in my village (rural area) dreaming of attending a college of high standard and would give my 100 % if selected and if not I will take a year gap improve my knowledge and sit for similar examination the next year. She instantaneously replied ok young man we give you the opportunity don’t disappoint us. The next day the student admission list was displayed to my surprise I was at the second position.

Ragging:
Although ragging was almost banned in the college premises but introduction used to take place. All of my friends were equally feared by the fact that what could happen next. The most tragic moment was when a fight broke out between Namita Gihar of my class with our senior. It led to a end to the introductory session in middle mean while we made her the star of our class and she was awarded with the title of the “KHUNKAR BIOCHEMIST”.

Life at Jamia Millia Islamia: A bit sour and sweet
Vision of Jamia Millia Islami:
JMI was a mixture of cultures; it had the taste of mughal architecture, the lucknow age of respect, the hindu culture of respect to gurus, and the true color of unity in diversity. The most important factor that had strengthened the integrity of JMI was the support that the university offered in Indian independence struggle by participating in non cooperation moment when AMU stood with britishers.

Examination:
There were regular examination sessions in JMI including the internal tests it was in one of this test that I met one of my best friend Vijay. There came a question on Aquaporins I just asked hey, bhai “kuch aata hai to bata” bola “Nani aata” but still he kept answering the question. I just told him show it to me. He said “mat copy kar” maine bola “Just let me copy”. Finally the exam got over I went to him and asked him brother its amazing that you answered a question which was out of course. He said actually I never knew the answer I was according to my inner instinct. I was shocked both of us got zero marks in that question but became great friends.
Vijay used to get frustrated by the questions of his neighbor aunty used to ask what you will do after M.Sc. Sometimes he used to get frustrated and speak out that I will answer her, “Will marry your daughter after M.Sc anything more?????”

Library: The treasure of Knowledge:
As the hostel facility was limited in nature and power supply was much limited in delhi so almost all hostlers and students were forced to spend a large part of the day and night within library which was centrally A.C. Library study offered us all an opportunity to interact with each other students from different departments became great friends, the last benches were our seat we three friends Vijay, Vishawnath and me myself used to spend time from 6 A.M to 12 P.M almost daily on those seats. Our friendship become stronger to strongest sharing breakfast, lunch and dinner together in same plates within our central cantten, and how can I forget Mohit (Central canteen chef) who always kept special “Thalis” for us.
The most amazing seen was created in the afternoon when both of my friends used to take a nap (sleep) by putting their heads on the desks, but I was not able to sleep as such so used to sleep over the desk using my books as a pillow. Even we were specially recognized by the library facility because we use to come to library at 6:30 A.M while the time of library opening was 7 A.M we had over special evening tea of discussion by Mustafa who used to give us a miss call as he comes in the evening to sell tea outside library

The Secret crust that we had:
Never to mention it up here, there was a girl in the engineering department who used to sit just beneath us in the library. We all decided that once our examination will be over we will have a talk with her and began to seriously prepare for the examination as we didn’t want to lose our focus.
Ultimately the exams ended, when Vishawnath came to me and said brother I would like to sacrifice for you I am out of the race, then came Vijay who said same here brother I am also not interested. Smelling something fishy I doubted them and went outside for a walk where saw her becoming much close to some other guy and I returned to my friends and said your sacrifices have opened my eyes and now my heart is filled with respect for you both and want to sacrifice for you both. Ultimately Vijay said “Bhai tujhe bhi sachai pata chal gai cha lab phad lete hai!”.

Best brains nourishing young talents:
My class was filled with colors from almost all regions of the country from North India to South India. Top 20 best brains of the country were with me. Crack rune what a faculty we had Dr Seemi Fahrat Basir known for Immunological studies throughout Delhi, Dr Luqman Ahmed Khan whose biochemistry was not limited to chemical reactions but one had to give the answers of each and every C-atom within the chemical reactions, never to leave Pranav Kumar the director of The Pathfinder academy whose molecular biology was mind blowing. Other faculties included were Dr Jawid, Dr Rizvi, Dr Tasneem, Dr Meryam Sardar, and many more each specialized in their fields.
I am a lazy guy and used to be almost always late in my class and always got last seat to be seated from where board was hardly visible ultimately I used to take all the books of my friends and used to sit over them.

The Final year of our M.Sc:
As the results of M.Sc-Ist came all of us got promoted to the next year the only thing that hurt me was that among us Vijay got just 67% although we knew that he had to improve his English a bit but never reflected it out in front of him but supported him. Vishawnath was topper among us while our class topper was Subodh Joshi, she was a learning machine. Vishawnath was a friend of friend and helped us both in studies and supported us.
In M.Sc-II year my day started at 6:30 A.M with the call of my friend Vijay, speaking “We are getting late come on we have to study he use to be so excited that today we would be finishing the entire syllabus”, but when we used to return at 11 P.M from our library Vijay use to absuse a lot about the limited scope of the subject, the large no of responsibilities he had but will again come tomorrow morning at the same time.
Nothing shines like success:
Hard work conquers all !. We all both of my friends and me not only cleared M.Sc with flying colors but also cleared CSIR-NET-JRF with under 100 Ranks in CSIR-JRF/ NET-JRF. Moreover, there were other entrance examinations which we cleared in the form of ICMR-JRF, GATE-MHRD, HSCST-JRF, etc. Wow how good time passes so soon we found it out on the day of our farewell. It was on this day that we realized that we would me moving apart but had remained ever since as best friends !

Reference
• http://jmi.ac.in/Biosciences/courses-name.

It was snow storming heavily and I could hear people shivering and running, trying to get to wherever they were headed to, but I couldn't care less. My eyes were glued to the soft white blanket of snow that stretched as far as eyes could see. The cold and icy snow filled me with joy I couldn't describe.

It was the first time ever I saw snow(other than on T.V) physically. It was the first time ever I was out of India. It was the first flight experience. It was the first time ever I was so far away from my parents. I still remembered their happy-sad faces at the airport as they waved at me. They were proud of me getting the scholarship to study one semester abroad on a student exchange but sad to see me go. I missed them but I was happy.
 
It was like living inside a dream I never wanted to get over, I wasn't dressed enough to bear that cold in New York, but my excitement and happiness was too high to feel the cold and all the snow only amplified the happiness.

University of Mysore had made arrangements to take me and the other student, who also received the same scholarship, to Connecticut College from JFK airport. We hopped in the cab with another Indian student from the college, who came to receive us. His father was responsible for the student exchange program in our college in India, and we were the first ones from our college. There were so many first time at once!

I didn't feel jet lag despite the 11 hr time difference. I enjoyed the drive from New York to New London, from chills down my spine sky scraper to breathtaking countryside. When we reached the campus, I felt it was a small town in itself. The campus was so scenically beautiful I fell in love with it immediately.

We were provided with our respective dorm room keys inside an envelope. I smiled. We were informed that the hostels are unisex there and that may be a bit of cultural shock for us. But I felt warm and welcomed by all. Everyone on my floor were so considerate when they learnt I was from India and assured me they would do nothing that would make me feel disrespected.

I was helped by random students I didn't know to get to nearby Wal-Mart, buy bedding & other necessary stuff for my room, to find my classes and one of my professors even let me have her laptop for the semester (as I didn't have one). I enrolled into classes for Genetics, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Scanning Electron Microscope, and beginners ice skating( for extra points and extra fun).

Classes were not just educational but highly interactive. We were asked to make reports based on our understanding of the previous class in biochemistry. In genetics the professor was such a fun sport, that all I mostly remember of that class is solving genetics problems and laughing and solving the problems was just as fun!

I enjoyed Microbiology classes the most, 180 degree to how I felt in India.

Professor Bernard made us watch short movies based on each microbial disease we were covering that semester and had discussions on the same in next class. It was also the first time that we were allowed to do the experiments ourselves, unlike watching our teachers do, or doing it in pairs or teams. We even chose a topic to do a project (based on topics we covered) and do a poster presentation for the same. I chose Biofilms for I was fascinated by them since the very first time Professor Bernard mentioned them in the class. And she wasn't the only one that made the class so interesting. I would always come early to class to be able to sit next to Andrew, the red head Spanish guy I wouldn't stop smiling every time I thought of him. Eventually we became friends after he came to my rescue every time I messed up the lab experiment. Swear I did not do them on purpose!

Besides he wasn't my only crush there. What do you do when your Ice skating instructor looks like older version of Channing Tatum, who gives you a hand and helps you get back on your feet every time you fall hard on your butt in the rink?

I had another great experience when I could study Drosophila under SEM (Scanning electron Microscope), staining their body parts with Immunogold and studying them, observing them in a closed room!! Something I definitely would not have got to do in the college back here.

I also got to experience the two exclusive Connecticut college festivals/celebrations :

Floralia - A festival to welcome spring and.....what happens in floralia, stays in floralia....!

Fish Bowl - I would rather not discuss it (laughing)!!

All in all I made some great friends there, met; and got to study and learn under some amazing professors while having a wonderful time. It is one of those experiences I would cherish forever. It was one of the most memorable part of MY COLLEGE LIFE!

The earth is comprised of large varieties of microorganisms.  This variety of microorganisms plays various functions for sustaining life on earth. They provide many necessary functions which are important for other lives to exist in earth.  Every process in the biosphere is touched by these microbes owing to their ability to transform the world around them. They play major roles in the chemical cycles of all the key elements of life like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and thus making them biologically accessible for the other microorganisms. So, it can be said that microbes helps in sustaining life on earth.   All plant and animals are closely associated with microbial communities which provide nutrients, metals ions and vitamins to their hosts. Even human body which comprises of approx 3 trillion cells also acts as a host of billions microbes associated with them which help us to lead a healthy life. Nowadays microbes also help human beings in production of drugs, biofuel, biopols and fermenting food.

Microbes were discovered during the time of late 18th century when microscope was invented. It makes us aware of microorganisms by making it visible to us. By then to today we know many things about microbes by culturing them in laboratories.  Microbes were studied by focusing on a pure culture which consists of only one species. This enable the scientists to study microbes, however it isn’t natural as microbes are grown on artificial media without having ecological contacts. All most, all the information about the microbes is laboratory knowledge gained by growing them in unnatural environment. In the community, microbes compete for nutrients and space. Also there are several functions which cannot be done by a species alone. Culturing microbes in artificial media is a very old process for getting information from microbes. From pure cultures, there is very little knowledge obtained about some microbes which cannot be grown without community.  The science of Metagenomics empowers us to study the microbes in their natural environment i.e. the complex community in which they normally live.

Defining Metagenomics:

The word Meta is a Greek word for transcendence and term genomics means the total hereditary contain of an organism. This field of biology helps us to understand the biology as a whole.  It takes a community of microbes from natural environment and focuses on the genes and their role in the community. This provides us with the information that how genes can influence each other activity and serve functions collectively as a whole.  Metagenomics consist of extracting DNAs directly from the environment, these DNA are known as metagenomes. DNAs are extracted from the microbes in their native places. For example all microbes from sea water, soil, and human gut etc.

Methods in Metagenomics:

The steps in this process consist of extraction of DNA from samples which are collected from the environment under observation. The samples contain verity of different kinds of organism, the cells of which may be broken by chemical methods such as alkaline condition or by physical methods like sonication.  Then the DNA is isolated from rest of the sample using its chemical and physical properties. Some methods of DNA isolation include density centrifugation, affinity binding and solubility precipitation.  Metagenomic genome is complex since it is mixture of many DNA from a pool of microorganisms making its study more challenging. These DNA can be integrated in to E.coli genome for future study. This creates a library of genomes of microbes which are found in that particular environment. The library contains a large number of clones each containing a random part of DNA, which can be analyzed by sequence methods or function methods i.e. by sequencing the nucleotide sequence of clone DNA or by studying the expression of clones DNA into its protein.





• Sequence driven method comprises of sequencing the clone DNA which was collected from natural environment and then put it for computational analysis using bioinformatics tools. Sequences are compared with the sequences that are already present in the DNA data banks. Then genes are grouped into similar predictable functions and types of the proteins that conduct those functions and coded by the sequences can be assed.

• In function driven method the DNA is collected from the habitat and is implanted into a surrogate host, instead of its sequencing then the scientists go for studying their functions. For studying the functions firstly it is ensured that the function is absent in the subrogate hosts so, that the resulted function can be interpreted as the function of the Meta DNA.  Genotypic analysis is generally performed after phenotypic analysis. A typical metagenomic analysis consists of several rounds of the procedure to ensure the isolation of the targeted genes from the environment samples and to successfully characterize the function encoded by the gene.


The information gained from the metagenomic procedure includes information regarding structure, expression, evolution and origin of DNA. These informations can be scientifically applicable for benefiting the society and environment. Many microorganisms have ability to degrade waste material, make new drugs for medicine, and make biodegradable plastics and some of the important food we consume regularly. Isolation of this Meta DNA enables us to optimize those processes and adapt them for use in our society. As a result of ineffective laboratory standard technique the potential of organisms in the nature like microbes is relatively unknown and uncharacterized.  Metagenomic is a revolutionary tool for exploring the diversity on organism from their native habitat samples.  Metagenomic effectively involves characterization of function or naturally occurring samples without laboratory culturing technique.

Application of metagenomic in human welfare

• Environment sustainability: Metagenomics can give new techniques for monitoring the impact of pollutants on ecosystems and for removing the contaminating agents from environment. Gaining the understanding of how microbial communities cope with pollutants can be use as a scale for measuring the potential of contaminated sites to recover from pollution and increases the chances of bioaugmentation or biostimulation trials to succeed.

• Biochemical products: Microbial communities produce a large variety of biologically active chemical agents that are used in competition and communication. Many of the drugs which are in use today were originally discovered in microbes; recent progress in exploring the rich genetic resource of non-culturable microbes has led to the uncovering of new functional genes, enzymes, and natural products. The application of Metagenomics has allowed the development of commodity and fine chemicals, agrochemicals and pharmaceutical products where the benefit of enzyme-catalyzed synthesis of products is increasingly recognized.
• Agriculture: Plants grow in soil which is inhabited by a variety of microbial communities, with 1 gram of soil containing around 10^9-10^10 microbial cells which comprises of about 1 gigabase of sequence information. The microbial communities which are living in soils are some of the most complex known to science, and remain not understood despite their industrial importance. Microbes perform a wide variety of ecosystem services which are important for plant growth and development, including fixing atmospheric nitrogen into soil, nutrient cycling, disease suppression, and arranging iron and other metals. Functional Metagenomics methods are being applied to explore the interactions between plants and microorganisms through cultivation-independent study of these communities. By allowing insights into the function of previously uncultivated or community members in nutrient cycling and the promotion of plant growth, metagenomic methods can contribute to improved disease detection in crops and livestock. This will also help in the adaptation of enhanced farming practices which improve crop health by harnessing the relationship between microbes and plants.
Metagenomics can also provide valuable information about the functional ecology of environmental communities. The Metagenomic analysis of the bacterial species found in the defecations of Australian sea lions suggests that nutrient-rich sea lion faeces may be an important nutrient source for coastal ecosystems. This is because the bacteria that are exposed simultaneously with the defecations are adept at breaking down the nutrients present in the faeces into a biologically accessible form that can be taken up into the food chain.

Information from metagenomic libraries has the ability to enrich the development of industries and environmental sustainability. This information can be applied to the human world, in an effort of creating a healthy society that lives with a balance with the environment. DNA sequencing can also be applied more appropriately to identify species present in a body of water, debris filtered from the air, or sample of dirt. This can establish the total range of invasive species and endangered species, and track seasonal populations.  Metagenomics is a new technique of molecular biology that is full of promise and uncertainty. It gives us a window to the world which was unseen ever before. It is uncertain that what will be found but, it will surely help us in understanding the relation between different organism in their natural conditions, and promising us to provide more complete understanding of global cycles that keeps the biosphere bound, discoveries of new anti microbial therapies and also over coming environmental challenges. Metagenomics is just at its initial stages and continuously growing. Advances in Metagenomics can lead us to know the microbial community more appropriately and use them for human welfare and environmental sustainability.

Clinical trials are the clinical studies that involve human volunteers; here termed as subjects or patients that are designed to improve the medical knowledge, determine the efficacy of a new drug in the humans for diseases which has no certified or proven treatment/therapy, or sometimes done just for comparison with another drug for same ailment to determine whichever is more effective with lesser side effects. It also helps determine which dose/concentration of a particular drug would be best for different stages of the same disease. Clinical trials are highly crucial to be conducted before the drug is marketed to make sure the drugs are tested and certified for usage.

These studies always involve a team of experts from Medical & Pharmaceutical sectors to make sure there is compliance in trials with the protocols. The government of the country where the study is held is also involved to make sure the protocols follow the standards set by that particular government and also to make sure that the practice is ethical and patient safety is of highest importance. This study may either be interventional or observational type. In interventional, the patients or the subjects are given specific medical products as per the designed protocol by medical experts or investigators. This medical product could be drugs, devices, vaccine, etc.

In the observational studies, the interventions maybe given to a group of the population but it is mainly for the investigator to observe the health consequences or development in that group with respect to their lifestyles.

A complete clinical trial includes four main stages, collectively known as the Phases of clinical trials. The four clinical phases and drug development in each phase is defined below. However these phases may not always occur in the same chronological order. Sometimes a drug is evaluated in just 2 phases and sometimes the clinical trials may occur in such a fashion that two different phases may overlap each other.


Phase I: This is the primary stage where the first safety trials on a new drug is done in order to establish the exact dose range that is tolerated by the subjects. The dosage type maybe single or multiple. Usually this trial is conducted on severely ill patients like in cases of cancer, and in case of less ill patients, it involves pharmacokinetic studies. Pharmacokinetic studies are generally considered as phase I study.  Pharmacokinetic study can be easily defined as the study of what the body of living organism does to the drug from the moment it is absorbed by the body, distribution within the body, its metabolism to excretion.


Phase IIa: This is the first part of the 2nd phase of the clinical trial that involves the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of the drug in a group of selected population. The population here is usually patients with ailments to be treated or to prevent it. This phase concentrated on the dose-response , what type of patients are involved, Objectives may focus on frequency of intervention, dose-response, type of patient, and many other factors that are crucial in determining the safety and efficacy level. This phase may be  referred to as pilot trials.


Phase IIb: The objectives of this phase is same as that of the phase IIa, and may sometimes be referred to as pivotal trials. The conditions and factors for evaluation of efficacy and safety may also be same as phase IIa, however this phase represents absolutely thorough and careful, uncompromising display of the drug efficacy.


Phase IIIa: Phase III begins after the drug efficacy has been demonstrated but before the regulatory submission of New Drug. This phase is conducted on the group of population for whom the drug was actually intended to begin with. In IIIa clinical trials a data is generated based on both safety and efficacy but in relatively large numbers of subjects or patients in both controlled and uncontrolled trials. This trial may involve 2 group of patients for comparison of the drug interaction in the body against a placebo. This phase often provides much of the information needed for the labeling of the drug.


Phase IIIb: This phase is conducted after regulatory submission of dossier or an NDA, but prior to the drugs approval by the regulatory body and marketing of the drug. These trials may add on to earlier studies, sometimes may be the end of the clinical studies, or sometimes be directed towards Phase IV evaluations. This is the period between regulatory submission and approval of the drug for marketing authorization.


Phase IV: This phase is generally for observational purpose, but can sometimes be interventional too. This phase is conducted in order to provide with additional information about the drug’s efficacy or safety profile. Different age groups, or population from different ethnicity, races, are targeted in this phase. Previously unidentified reactions can be observed in this phase gradually adverse reactions or serious adverse effects are determined along with  related risk factors. This is very important for Phase IV because if a marketed medicine is to be evaluated for unknown indication, then those clinical trials are  considered first as interventional and then continued as Phase II clinical trials. The term post-marketing surveillance is generally used to describe the study period following the marketing of drug. During this the studies conducted are observational or non-experimental.

Dear sir

How would you rate the colleges offering undergraduate courses in Biotechnology in Pune? I know IISER would be the best but after that one should opt for University of Pune integrated 5 year course or Deemed university B.Tech course from DY Patil / Bharati Vidyapeeth? Where would be the position of B.Sc from Fergusson / garware colleges?

regards
sarang satarkar

Hey Everyone !
This is me sharing my experiences about GLA University. I came here in August 2014 and decided to pursue my Master's in Microbiology and Immunology. I came to know about this place through my father. Though it's a good university in this region . I had completed my Bachelor's from Banasthali University .  
Apart from this I want to mention that , It is the only university I guess which offers dual degree program in M.Sc . It is a very good thing to achieve here !
 College life is really unique that teaches us something special which can be an inspiration for every student. For everyone, college life can be different as everybody has different places to choose for their study . One can achieve something great , while some are not able to achieve up to their expectations . As, Failures are the pillars of success, so we should not forget to try again and again ! Trying on something gives us more confidence and strong determination to achieve something very big. Winning or Loosing are the part of the life , what matter is our strong determination and hardwork ! 
Coming to GLA proved great for me as I am enjoying here a lot ! I can say I have become more ambitious and capable of taking more responsibilities as before ! A college is the place where a student comes to know about his/her own hidden talent, his/her capability to tackle problems and hostel life teaches us to become more self confident and mature . So, one should have a college  experience in their life to become independent ! In a college we get to know about many things which can turn to be good for us .
I have many experiences of my college life , but this one is totally different and realistic for me !!! 

Everybody chooses a better place to pursue his/her further higher studies. I chose this place to be the part of my life . When I came here, I don't have any idea about this place. I gave entrance to get admission in this college. There are entrances for every course in GLA University. GLA University needs no introduction as its name speaks itself ! Ranked No:- 3 in India .  Finally college started and I was excited about it . Excited because , I came here to pursue my PG and PG life is always interesting for everybody !!!
. Though the environment here is serious about the studies, which is an extremely good thing for a university. Faculty over here in my department is really nice and well educated. Faculty is blessed with friendly and soft hearted  nature which help us to communicate with them easily. I was over joyed with this behavior. I had also studied in Banasthali University and JNU,Jaipur, but over there faculty was not this much friendly. Coming over to hostel life, this was my 7th year in hostel and I had no fear about this. I felt comfortable and was easily adjusted. But I was little much tensed about my rom mate as It was an question mark !   Though it was a new place for me but due to the friendly environment in GLA , I felt relaxed and positive . After so many days, I came to know about my room mate who was Manipur ! Far away from here she was . Her name is Okeshwori  and she is cute, helpful and most important she understands me very well , though she know only little bit of Hindi   . I used to communicate with her in English before , but now she speaks good Hindi ! 

 
GLA University has many special things about it to be explained. This university has dual environment means serious for studies and enjoyable for other co curricular activities. So, for students,  it's an amazing place to study and learn. GLA University administration always listen to their students no matter what the problem can be ?? I appreciate this facility provided to us . 
Months passed, and I came across many peoples in hostel and academic campus . Some were interesting and some were having dual nature in their behavior. For the first time, I got some friends who are really open minded and frank to me ! At least they were not having the habit of backstabbing . I was happy with that .Mean while, some of them pretended to be good on my face, but on my back they were just like my enemies.
But that was usual for me as I faced this earlier also !
In hostel or away from home, one should be enough mature to handle their problems on their own . One thing I must say, I became more self confident and  more capable to handle my problems after coming to GLA . 
GLA University has taught me how to become more self confident and independent !!!
I pay my thanks to some of my friends and faculty members who stood with me throughout my bad and good times. But , few were there who always tried to bring me down , but as I said I was more self confident enough to handle this and I survived !
This was the first time when I felt that I have became more confident and was enough mature to overcome my problems. This is all about my personal experiences , now I come to my professional experiences in GLA !!!
At GLA, participating in extra co curricular activities , has been always a fun moment and I enjoyed this . My faculty also praises me for my extra effort . 
All the faculty over here is really appreciable and down to earth . No matter what they are always ready to help in any condition . My HOD sir , Dr. A.K Bhatia, is an extremely talented person in every field. He always encouraged me to do better. Other faculty such as Dr. Alok Bharadwaj sir, he is really too friendly ! His idea of teaching is very much comfortable . Dr. Vishal Khandelwal sir and Dr. Pradeep Kumar Choudhary sir, are two teachers who have an amazing way to teach ! They both have wide knowledge about their fields. Taking you all to the other teachers like Aditya Saxena Sir, Anuja Mishra Mam, Anjana Mam, Rama Mam , they are also magnificent persons. And finally moving to our new faculty i.e. Dr.Gaurav Pant sir, he is down to earth person and research oriented person . Beside this all, my teachers are really helpful and they always encourage me to move for a better career in my life. Last but not the least, our department has finest research scholars such as Nitin Wahi sir, Ritesh Sir,  who simultaneously help me to be aware about my field on the same. They also suggest me how to do better in research oriented career. 
That's all about my college life experiences !
Moving towards to my personal life again ; only some of my friends like Aman, Prashant, Nikita, Kanika, Okeshwori, Divyanshu, Aditi, Shubhi etc are like my pillars !!! They support and encourage me in my bad times and are always with me in my good times to share my happiness. Lets come to hostel wardens, one thinks that wardens are very strict to their students, but in my case, my wardens are really frank to me and always like elder sister to me !! I want to mention their names like- Richa Mam and Anuja Mam ! Such nice peoples they are   They have soft nature and good understanding power to solve my problems. 
Aman is my bestest buddy and she is really caring to me . I have never imagined a friend like her in my life. Apart form this campus, I have another best friend who is Raj Singh Chauhan and he is the unique kind of man who is enough mature, sensible and decent in this lifestyle and thoughts ! I have learnt many things form him and will continue to get inspired from him as he is totally different guy who always supports me to do better than good  Here, I found three elders sisters who are very much caring to me . Sneha Didi, Sana didi and Mukta Didi , beacuse of you all , I have gained a lot of positive energy in me :-) Thanks for making me to love myself .
At last , GLA  University has been a nice place for me to learn and grow in my life further ! Peoples here are extremely good and well behaved in their thoughts except some ! 
Last but not the least, I am nothing without my parents who have been a great source of inspiration to me always ! Thanks to them and more over I feel proud to be their daughter !Special thanks to my father who always supports and encourages me every time, no matter what I am going through ! He is actually a hero for me who has done everything for me to just make me smile ! Love you Papa ..
GLA University has many- many things good in it which can be learn by an individual to become a better person with good moral values   I choose this university for being a better person so that I can make this place proud one day and I am working on it !!! Without the contribution of GLA University, my faculty and friends , I was unable to regain my lost self confident ! I am now more confident only because I came here and some credit goes to my efforts also . Finally , I only want to say that , If you can dream it , You can do it :-) 
Every college or university is good, it depends on us how we do there and the kind of things we achieve there ! Respect yourself and dream high to achieve more !!!
GLA University has contributed much to my life , and my life has been changed totally in positive aspects . I will make my best to give this university something more special so that they can feel proud on me one day ! Certainly I'll do that :-) 

Link for GLA University, Mathura :- http://www.gla.ac.in/glau/default.asp

Hello all,

After my last post about my experiences during interview at IIT-Kanpur, I planned to share my experiences of my interview at IIT-Kharagpur.

IIT kharagpur was my second successful interview out of 3 interviews, thus would like to share some worthy experiences.

My Experience:

I did my Bachelor's degree from west bengal, and was acquainted to bengal, thus IIT-KGP was one of my targets to pursue higher studies. My all India rank was high enough, that I was confident that I would get a call, and it happened as I expected. As I entered the campus, and was enthralled after seeing the green and serene campus of IIT-KGP. The ambience made me forget about the interview. I reached at evening and roamed around the campus, the whole evening. A must visit is the tech market, especially the food stalls, present there, selling local food and beverages. The breeze, the dusk, and the bengal flavor made me nostalgic. So, the first suggestion for the candidates will be, to enjoy the campus and surroundings, along with the food spots, and relax themselves.

Now comes the part, everyone will be reading for, ie, the interview experience. Honestly speaking, the professors in the panel were very friendly, and as I mentioned in my previous post about IIT-Kanpur, had a good sense of humor. All the candidates were asked to sit in a lecture room, and after sometime, names of victims were called one by one   . As my name was called, with great enthusiasm, I stood up and went inside in front of the panel. It is very important to be enthusiastic, coz M.Tech is not just a degree, it's an experience, you sought the most.

As I sat in front of the professors, I was asked the most unexpected question. They asked me to do a SWOT analysis of myself. Many of you, who don't know what SWOT analysis is, it is analysis of your personality through analysis of your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This is how, they wanted to understand me and my personality. Thus, it is very important to know yourself which is one most important aspect of one's persona. Believe in yourself and tell the truth.

After the SWOT analysis and some light discussions about personal life along with few jokes and fun filled moments (NB: making your panel laugh or lighten their mood is on you), I was asked to describe my research interest. Here, don't go for some fancy stuff, rather state something more practical and achievable and about which, you have ample knowledge. As I stated my research interest, just like at IIT-Kanpur, I was dragged into the loop. Somehow, I managed to escape the trap, and was able to convince the panel, I was worthy enough for a master's degree. They smiled and asked me to leave. I got an offer from IIT-KGP, but finally joined IIT-Kanpur for my master's.

Takeaway lessons:
1. Live the life, and enjoy the ambience. Success and failures come and go, but these experiences will stay forever. Thus explore the campus, enjoy the moment.
2. Be confident. If you don't know something, don't be nervous or ashamed, just tell the professors, the truth.
3. Don't be fancy about research topics. Even the professors know, how capable a graduate can be. Be practical.
4. Know yourself. This will help you in all interviews.
5. And as I always say, stay calm and do your part. Your life and future is not decided by a single success or a failure. Strive hard to succeed, and work harder to stay at that position.

Best of luck to all the aspirants.

PS: Those who scored low or didn't get success and looking for NITs or other options, I'd suggest, drop a year, and reappear for GATE. One decision can change your life.

Enjoy life in present. One should not be a prisoner of the past, nor should be future phobic.

--ADAS

On behalf of Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) is implementing since 1993-94, a scheme of practical industrial training for M.Sc./M.Tech./B.E./B.Tech. Biotechnology students.




The advertisement for the programme is published in national newspapers once in a year in the month of April-May and online application forms for students and requisition forms for companies are available on website for submission. The final placement for training is done in October-November. 

1.       Eligibility: B.E./B.Tech/M.Sc/M.Tech/M.V.Sc in Biotechnology, Molecular & Human Genetics, Molecular Biology & Biotechnology, Neuro-Science, Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Bio-process Technology, General/Agricultural/Industrial/Marine/Medical/ Pharmaceutical/Environmental/Plant/Food/Animal Biotechnology from an Indian recognized university with minimum 50% marks or equivalent grade completed in the year 2014 or 2015 are only eligible to apply.  

2.       The application would be accepted online only. Last date for submission of online application form is May 10, 2015.
Follow the below steps:

a)       Go to the link http://www.bcil.nic.in/bitp2015/index.asp
b)      Click on “Application form for Students (New User)”
c)       Create an account by putting a new user id, password and re-writing password of your choice.
d)      You can view/edit your application form any time in your account by clicking on already registered users before the last date of submitting the application. But the editing should not be done after sending the hardcopy of application and acknowledgement to BCIL.
 
3.       Before applying Online, the candidates must possess the following :
a)       Scanned passport (pp) size photograph in JPEG format (Size upto 25kb)
b)       Scanned Signature in JPEG format (Size upto 10 kb)
c)        Demand draft number, date and bank name
d)       Applicants Bank account details viz:
           i) Name as per bank account records:
           ii) Name of bank:
           iii) Bank Branch Address:
           iv) A/C No.:
           v)  IFSC Code:
 
4.       The following documents are to be sent to:

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by speed post/courier.

Last date of accepting the hardcopy of the documents is May 15, 2015. Applications received after the last date will not be entertained.

5.       Online Test:
a)      Candidates will be shortlisted through an online test. The shortlisted candidates will have to appear for an interview for final selection.
b)      Online test would be conducted at centers across the country (Please refer Annexure-2) on June 20, 2015 in 2-3 batches.
c)       Applicants have to select their test centre while filling the online application form. The no. of seats left in the centre of your choice will be displayed, if there is no seat available in the centre of your choice, you can select the other nearest centre.
d)      Students whose applications are found to be complete and eligible in all respects will be shortlisted for online test.
e)      List of the candidates eligible for online test will be displayed on the website on May 27, 2015.
f)       E-Hall tickets with online test date, time and venue will be sent to the candidates within one week before the test date via email.
g)      In case of clash of online test time with any other exam time, students could request to appear for test in another time slot available. The request for the same should be sent via email by June 10, 2015. Requests received after that will not be considered.
h)      No request for change of date of online test will be entertained
i)        No TA/DA will be paid to the students appearing for online test.  
j)        The structure of the test is given in Annexure 3 on the website.
k)      For sample questions please visit http://www.bcil.nic.in/files/BITPonlinet...stions.pdf 
l)        Syllabus for online test is same as the syllabus of M.Sc General Biotechnology (given on website of Department of Biotechnology (DBT), http://dbtindia.nic.in/wp-content/upload...nology.pdf)
a)      The candidates shortlisted through the online test will be called for interview in different cities. The candidates may be called for interview in the city other than the city selected while filling application form.
b)      The list of candidates shortlisted for interview would be published on the website on June 30, 2015 with details regarding venue, date and time. Individual intimation for interview would not be sent.
c)       The interviews will be held during July – August 2015. 
d)      Candidates appearing for the interview will be paid to and fro travelling expenses equivalent to 2nd class (sleeper) train fare by the shortest route, on production of tickets.
e)      Candidates who wish to claim travel expenses are requested to bring 2 copies of tickets booked online or taken from the ticket window, to be attached with the claim form.
f)       In case an outstation candidate appears for interview from a place other than as indicated in his/her original application, the reimbursement of fare would be limited to the place mentioned in application or place from where the candidate actually arrived, whichever is nearer.
g)      Candidates will have to make their own arrangements for boarding and lodging while appearing for the interview.
h)      Students appearing for interview will have to bring:
                                             i)            Copy of dissertation/project work, if any
                                           ii)            Photo identification proof – Voter I-card, Driving licence, Passport, PAN card etc.
                                          iii)            Mark sheets of all semesters.
                                         iv)            Final consolidated marksheet and provisional certificate.
 
7.       The tentative time of commencement of training will be September – October.
8.       All correspondences related to the programme/joining from BCIL to candidate will be done by email. Kindly provide a valid email address in application form. BCIL will not be responsible for delivery failures to the invalid email ids provided by the candidate at the time of filling application form.
9.       Filling up this form does not guarantee training under BITP. The decision of the selection committee shall be final and binding. Training does not ensure permanent placement.
10.   Candidates placed for training will have to make their own arrangements for lodging & boarding. The company may/may not provide boarding/lodging facility on chargeable basis or help in finding accommodation.
11.   Candidates will be required to follow the rules and regulations of the trainer company. If the trainee leaves the training in between or is terminated, stipend would not be paid for the rest of the training period. Non serious candidates based on the feedback of company will be terminated without notice. If a trainee is terminated from a company due to unsatisfactory work or indiscipline or misconduct, the trainee would not be placed in any other company.
12.   Students who have already undergone training under BITP or are employed will not be eligible.

---

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Email for queries at: bitp.dbt@nic.in

Making Career with CSIR-NET-JRF: Life Sciences.

Introduction:
In this world of extreme competition success not only goes to those who work differently but also to those who plan differently. NET (National eligibility test) has been described as a pioneer step towards becoming a top notch research worker or a lecturer in the country.

It was in 1983 that CSIR started a common research fellowship for identifying young talents with scientific temper in the form of NET (National Eligibility Test) and providing financial support to the eligible young talents. Since, 1986 the JRF entrance examination has been shared with UGC, thus the exam was renamed as CSIR-NET-JRF entrance examination. UGC had also recognized NET as the minimum eligibility for lectureship in 1989. Today CSIR with its 19 scholarship schemes acts as the strongest pillar, supporting academicians and researchers. Amongst its entire support scheme, the most popular and competitive is the CSIR-NET-JRF entrance examination.

Amendments in Examination pattern:
NET is conducted twice in a year in the month of June and Dec., and the results are announced within three month of the examination. It was in Dec, 2010 the pattern of CSIR-NET-JRF entrance examination changed from subjective to objective one. Moreover the validity of the CSIR NET JRF examination for availing fellowship was also increased from one to two years in 2012 extending the eligibility to even graduate students under the jurisdiction that they should be able to complete their post graduation within a time period of two years while the validity of NET-LS has remained lifelong. Age limit for appearing in JRF-NET is 28 years and for NET-LS, there is no upper age limit has been set.

Advantages of Qualifying CSIR-NET-JRF:
Clearing CSIR-NET-JRF is unlike any other examination, especially in Life Sciences. The fellowship gives you a token to entry into the topmost labs of the country and if science is your passion, it is this fellowship which will quench your thirst. Majority of the Gov. & all private university & colleges exempt qualified candidates from any written examination and are able to directly appear into interviews both for lectureship and PhD.

With the legal announcement of the Supreme Court dated 23rd March, 2015, CSIR-NET-JRF has been made compulsory requirement for appointment as a lecturer in Indian universities, making the examination even more important.
Moreover, the fellowship of the CSIR has also been revised recently to Rs 25,000/- + HRA (JRF) & Rs 28,000 + HRA (SRF) w.r.t 1st Nov, 2014. This has made the fellowship amount to sum up to more than Rs 17 lakhs for five years of research. There are also norms available for an enhanced promotion of CSIR-NET-JRF qualified candidate working as a lecturer. The recognition and respect one gets from the fellow candidates, interviewers, students, adds flavor to one's success. All the above reasons have fascinated lakhs of students to appear for the examination seriously.

Fig No. I: Detailed summary of funding schemes to research scholars:

Strategy for Preparation:
Examination Pattern:

• There are three sections/parts in CSIR- NET entrance paper Part ‘A’, ‘B’ & ‘C’ each having different pattern of questions thus requiring special strategy for each.
  
• Each question in Part ‘A’ & ‘B’ carries 2 marks, while Part ‘C’ consists of questions of 4 marks each. There is a negative marking of 25% for each wrong answer.
  

• Section A consists of 20 questions out of which 15 have to be answered. Among these 20 questions at least 10 questions are basic mathematical (topics are): Mensuration (2-3 Q), Series completion (2-3 Q), Graphical representation & analysis (3-4 Q), Gen. Aptitude (5 Q). Total marks allotted to this section are 30 Marks (15 X 2).

• Section B consists of 50 questions out of which 35 have to be answered. All questions in this section are based on general Life Sciences. Questions of medium level of difficulty are asked in this section. The topics of utmost importance are as follows: Biochemistry (5-6 Q), Cell Biology (4-5 Q), Molecular Biology (8-10 Q), Genetics (4-5 Q), Embryology     (3-4 Q), Classical Zoology and Botany (5-6 Q), Experiment based questions (3-4 Q), Instrumentation (4-5 Q). Total marks allotted to this section are 70 Marks (35 X 2).

• Section C consists of 75 questions out of which 25 have to be answered. All questions are analytical based on fundamental knowledge and concepts. Strenuous questions are asked in this section. The most important fact about this section is that none of the questions are repeated, but yet there are fixed topics from which the questions are asked on a regular basis. The topics which have been asked quite a number of times include:
A. Biochemistry (6-8 Q): Protein hierarchy, Hb/ Mb O2 dissociation curve, Inborn errors of metabolism, Enz. Inhibition, Glycogen metabolism, β oxidation, Ketone bodies, Photosynthesis, Plant hormones.
B. Cell Biology (8-10 Q): Protein translocation in E.R, Intracellular protein trafficking, Nerve impulse translocation, SNARE hypothesis, Cell signaling, Cancer.
C. Molecular Biology (8-10 Q): Cot-curves, Transposones, Replication, Transcription, Translation, Mutational studies in lac operon, Attenuation, Trp- Operon, Translation, Chaperons.
D. Model Organisms (3-4 Q): λ-Phage, ABC Model in A. thaliana, Vulva development in C. elegans, Embryonic development in D. melanogaster.
E. Genetics (4-6 Q): Double C.O. Chromosomal maps, Pedigree analysis, Hardy Weinberg, Maternal inheritance, Non Allelic Interaction.
F. Instrumentation (5-8 Q): Questions based on a hypothetical experimental design & analysis.
G. Other Imp. Topics (8-10 Q):  Cladogram & Dandrogram, Lotka Volterra model, Succession,  MHC, ELISA, At-Ab Interactions, Gene sequencing through Conjugation, transduction, Bact. Growth curve analysis.

The General cut-off for securing a seat of JRF is 55 % marks and for NET is 47 % marks in Gen category while in reserve category it is much lower than this. Before a student gets himself prepared for the CSIR entrance examination, he/she should plan according to his/her category so as to clear the cut off. Individual category vise cutoff are provided in the figure.I

Fig. I: Minimum cut-off percentage for the award of fellowship/ lectureship (Dec, 2015):
Subject             General       OBC          SC/ST/PH/VH             General            OBC          SC/ST/PH/VH
Life Science        52.00         46.80                41.60                        46.8                42.12              37.44

Misconceptions & Myths:
The greatest misconception among students is that there is a separate cutoff for the three sections but there is none, instead a student has to score total marks overall. There is yet another common query among students that whether applying for JRF would make them eligible for NET-LS or not (just in case they don't make it to JRF).

The answer to their query is: Yes, those who have filled the form for JRF will be considered for NET-LS if they are able to cross the cutoff of CSIR-NET-LS but those who have filled the form for only NET-LS are not considered for CSIR or NET-JRF.

Some students are fascinated by Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (SPMF) fellowship for PhD scholars and as only top 30 Rank holders of CSIR-NET-JRF are eligible for it, so students tend to over attempt questions, ultimately landing nowhere with negative marking.

To all these students I would like to suggest that it hardly matters in NET-JRF entrance examination which rank one scores because the fellowship for both CSIR-JRF & UGC-JRF is the same. The only thing that matters is that : "whether you are able to make it to the JRF candidate list or not"

Formula For Success:
CSIR-NET-JRF exam is about selecting the right questions to be answered while escaping the ones from classical biology or ones which are time consuming or lengthy in nature.

• Part-A is decorated with time consuming mathematical questions, any miscalculation may fetch you negative marks!, so I would suggest not to spend more than half an hour over this section.
  
• Part B consists of simplest questions to be answered and one should finish this section within half an hour.
  
• Part C checks one's control over his/her nerves. There are questions which are too hard to be attempt, do not lose your hope & temper, just move to another question because there are only 25 Q to be attempted out of 75 Questions!
  
  Please do go through each and every question at least superficially so that you can attempt max no. of questions, also make sure that you don't make any unnecessary over attempts.
  

If you could score correctly only 50 % in total, even then you will definitely make it to JRF/LS.

Alternate Approach to Success:
There are several other competitive examinations such as NET-JRF-UGC, ICMR-JRF, IARI-JRF, CU-SET, HSCRT-JRF, ARS-NET, ASRB, GATE-Xl/Bt, etc in which one could also appear so as to increase their chances of getting selected. Moreover it is also advisable to students to apply for the nineteen different scholarships schemes provided by CSIR as indicated on www.csirhrdg.res.in/at_glance.htm.

All's Well that Ends Well:  
At the end I would like to mention that it is hard work that conquers all, never be afraid of your failures. Always remember whether or not you make up to JRF, the preparation will transform you into an able student, with increased knowledge which will be reflected in other entrance examinations, interviews and even in your academics and daily life to make you confident enough.


• Hasan, S.A., Khilnani, S. and R. Luthra. 2013. Are CSIR-UGC NET qualified junior research fellow going away from science? Current Science, Vol. 104 (4).
• Gupta, A., Inderpal and S. mallick. 2004. Are bright students coming back to Science?- A Study. Jou. of Scientific & industrial. res., Vol. 63: 248-250.
• www.csirhrdg.res.in/at_glance.htm
• www.thegenomecoaching.in

From,
Nitin Wahi
Director, The Genome Coaching Inst., Agra & Mathura.
CSIR-NET-JRF, NET-LS, ICMR-JRF, HSCST-JRF, GATE-XL
UGC- Fellow, PhD Scholar, G.L.A University, Mathura
www.thegenomecoaching.in
wahink@gmail.com, thegenomecoaching@gmail.com
Ω 08923944414.

I am completing BSc biotechnology this year and I want to study MSc in biotechnology ...so what is the best field in biotechnology that I can study?

The most crucial time has come for the highly motivated prospective scholars. GATE is over and the results are out along with the list of selected students for screening tests and interviews.

One of the most sought after, among all the top Indian institutes to pursue M.Tech/PhD in the field of life sciences, has been Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur. One nice attribute of IIT-Kanpur's selection procedure for M.Tech in the Dept. of Biological Sciences and Bio-Engineering (BSBE) is that they give the chance to prove your intelligence, irrespective of your rank. As you may have observed, a small decrease in gate score, leads to a huge change in rank, Dept. of BSBE, IIT-Kanpur, does consider this fact and calls, a huge number of aspirants, who, despite being intelligent and highly motivated, commit few errors, and lose good rankings (False negatives). They also have in mind that the ones getting high ranks, might have got it by fluke (False positives).

The overall process of selection of Dept of BSBE, IIT-K, comprises of 2 stages. Firstly there’s a screening test followed by interviews of the screened candidates. So, first, let me talk about the screening test.

The screening test comprises of multiple choice questions, designed to test the research aptitude of the students. The questions are framed from different scientific fields. Conceptual questions from Physics, chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and general science are the main constituents of the paper. There is no particular syllabus, but for those, who have a better understanding of their past studies, can easily attempt the questions even without preparation.
To get a flavour of the types of questions that come in the test, one can refer to questions which have come in CSIR-NET, paper A and B. Also, the questions of this screening test are quite similar to those which come in the TIFR entrance test for biological sciences. Aspirants can also refer to these too.

Also, to test the writing skills of the candidates, one essay writing section is also there. Four to five topics like “Role of women in leadership” or some issues with academia/research are given, and an essay is to be written on any one. In this case, don’t be verbose. Write crisp and to the point, and avoid using fancy words.

Practicing such kind of questions is enough to get you pass the first hurdle.

The most important stage of selection, and the second hurdle, is the interview. The person who manages to impress the panel, gets the chance to experience the academic life of IIT-K.

My personal experience:

After clearing the screening test (which I was pretty sure of because I had cleared the TIFR entrance test and NET prior, and most of the questions looked similar) all the candidates were allotted time slots for interview. Once I reached inside the department, I saw all the aspirants with their books and notes, studying in isolation which made me panic (NB: do not get scared of these people, coz most of them don’t get selected as they are too nervous). I sat with one of my acquaintance, whom I met during the interviews of IIT-Kharagpur, later became my batch mate at IIT-Kanpur. We chatted till our names were called. As I entered the interview room, I saw 5 faculty members of the department, waiting for their next prey. The first question asked was, why M.Tech, why not PhD.? Luckily it was easy for me as I was pretty sure why I wanted to do masters first. I told them I am not knowledgeable enough to pursue PhD. The argued and tried to divert me, but that’s the main catch, they wanted to know my level of dedication (NB: in such scenarios, follow your own principles and heart and never digress). Secondly, I was asked to mention 3 of my favourite subjects (NB: In such scenarios, always tell subjects, which are linked. Not just 3 random subjects which you know the best). As I told them my favourites, they asked me the reason, and asked me, how they are related. I was prepared for this and answered. Then they started asking technical questions related to those subjects which were very conceptual in nature. Here, the candidate has a chance to drive the interview as per his/her wish but refrain yourself from giving wrong answers. Be confident and if you don’t know any answer, tell the panel, the truth. Overall, by their questions, they gave me a tour of 5-6 fields of science; from rDNA technology to protein engineering, evolutionary biology and finally to drug design and protein ligand interactions. While making the panel laugh and entertaining them, I answered all their queries, and my last question was “What is the meaning of your name?”. As I told them the meaning of my name, which actually is “experience”, they had a nice laugh and told me that I actually stood up to my name, which was the final nail in the coffin, and I was sure, I got the licence for pursuing M.Tech from IIT-K and I finally managed to get a masters from the institute.

Takeaway lessons:

1. Be confident and bold. Confidence is something, which gets reflected in your personality, which helps in impressing people.
2. Never digress from what you believe. This tenacity is what they want to check.
3. Never give wrong answers or else, you’ll be dragged into the loop of wrong facts, and ultimately, you’ll end up contradicting yourself (Yes, the professors are too brilliant and they love feasting on confusion). If you’re confused, just admit it. There’s no shame in admitting your limitations (even the brightest mind don’t know everything).
4. Be funny. The panel members are also human beings, having sense of humour. After interviewing so many nervous people, they expect some humour and entertainment. Remember, entertain the panel, and increase your chances of getting selected.
5. Chat with other candidates and make friends because, career is not the only thing in life.
6. Never get nervous by seeing book worms or professors or the ambience. Once you get selected, nothing else matters.
7. Lastly, keep calm and do your part.

Best wishes to the aspirants.

--ADAS

Can you please explain the following in a simple language- When we isolate nucleic acid from any tissue like cheek cells and go for restriction endonuclease treatment, we get huge numbers of fragments. These fragments represent portions of DNA from different chromosomes. Now if we do electrophoresis of the same, we will gey bands at different distances, based on sizes. Now I have three questions- 01. How we identify and isolate the gene of interest from here. 02.How we allocate the fragments containing genes to respective chromosomes. 03. For long genes, how do we ascertain that the entire gene is represented by restriction endonuclease treatment. Thanks and regards.

This year IIT Kanpur IIT Kharagpur and IIT Bombay have released their interview dates and all are clashing i.e. 12th may and 13th may for IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay and 13th and 14th may for IIT Kharagpur. They are forcing us to choose among the best institutes in the country. A interview in an IIT does not mean that you will get a seat so this decision highly decreases our chances to get admission in IITs inspite of having a rank within 100. i think we should raise our voices against this issue.

Not many in India and, of-course in the world would know that recently in November 2014, govt. of India declared the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani , Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) as an Independent Ministry! The now ministry of AYUSH was once Department of Indian System of Medicine and  Homeopathy  (ISM&H), which was created in March 1995. The department was renamed to AYUSH in 2003, but very recently, under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, it got elevated to a full fledged Ministry: AYUSH.


Objectives of the Ministry of AYUSH

• To upgrade the educational standards in the Indian Systems of Medicines and Homoeopathy colleges in the country.
  
• To strengthen existing research institutions and ensure a time-bound research programme on identified diseases for which these systems have an effective treatment.
  
• To draw up schemes for promotion, cultivation and regeneration of medicinal plants used in these systems.
  
• To evolve Pharmacopoeial standards for Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy drugs.
  

National Institutes Under AYUSH

• ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF AYURVEDA  
  
• Institute of Post Graduate Teaching & Research in Ayurveda, Jamnagar (Gujarat) 
  
• Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, New Delhi 
  
• National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA) Jaipur 
  
• National Institute of Homoeopathy, Kolkata 
  
• National Institute of Naturopathy, Pune 
  
• National Institute of Siddha (NIS), Chennai 
  
• National Institute of Unani Medicine, Bangalore 
  
• Rashtriya Ayurved Vidyapeeth, New Delhi 
  

Creating a separate Ministry for AYUSH reflects upon the seriousness of the Indian government in promoting across the globe the values and utility of Indian systems of Medicine and research. It should encourage the budding biologists to look for a novel line of career in Indian systems of Medicines.

Please feel free to add new and useful information (be it queries or comments) under this thread.

The Biocon-KGI Certificate Program in Biosciences
Bangalore, India

This 16 week full-time Certificate Program, delivered by renowned Faculty from KGI and Biocon Academy, is designed to have classroom sessions that provide scientific background of the applications of Biotechnology as well as industry assignments and hands on trainings

   

Biocon Academy’s flagship program - The Biocon-KGI Certificate Program in Biosciences is a 'best-in-class' program that transforms graduate and post graduate students into professionals ready to take on the evolving challenges of the Biotech industry.


Education Qualification

- BE/B.Tech: Biotechnology/Industrial Biotechnology
- MSc., Biotechnology/Microbiology/Biochemistry/Biology
- B.Pharm

Minimum CGPA/Percentage Required:
CGPA: 7.5 on a scale of 10, 2.85 on a scale of 4
Percentage: 71%

Break in career 1 year and less from HSC/PUC to the current highest degree.

Admission Process for August 2015 Batch

Admission requests for the Biocon-KGI Certificate Program in Biosciences will be accepted online during April 2 – June 26, 2015. Please follow the below application process.


The admission panel will announce the list of students qualifying for the 2nd round of evaluation i.e. Personal Interview after the screening of all applications.

You will be notified about the status of your application within 25 days of the closure of application process.

COURSE FEES:

Biocon Academy is an Advanced Learning Educational Initiative which takes forward our commitment to affordability and greater access. Unlike other internationally recognized Advanced Learning Programs, the Biocon-KGI Certificate Program in Biosciences is being made available to students at a 25% cost, of the program. 

The Biocon Merit Scholarship of 75% of the program fee to all students selected through a rigorous process, will enable students to pursue this international program with great aplomb.


Biocon Scholarship 75% of the program fee to all selected students.

Program Fee - INR 6,00,000
Student’s Share - INR 1,50,000

The Biocon Academy aspires to develop a large pool of biotech professionals who are well equipped to realize their dreams of pursuing an exciting career in the field of biosciences and be a part of the ever evolving biotech sector.

Student Loans

Low interest loans with favorable repayment options are available to all students to help offset the expenses not covered by Biocon Ltd scholarship. Our financial aid staff will be pleased to help you navigate all of the options available to you.

Financing Assistance

Biocon Academy has tied up with Canara Bank to offer Student loan of up to Rs 2 Lakh. The Loan will be provided at base rate + 0.5% and there will be a moratorium period of 6 months after completion of the course.

PROGRAM COURSES

The program has three major components:

1. Technical course modules

2. Professional Skills module

3. Industry-Academy Interactions

The course modules are selected carefully to meet the objective of transforming our students to industry-ready professionals.

Course Modules

ALS 300: Molecular Biotechnology
ALS 333: Pharmaceutical Development
ALS 418: Biopharmaceutical Quality Assurance and Control
ALS 419: CMC Regulations of Pharmaceuticals
ALS 462: Introduction to US FDA and European Laws and Regulations
ALS 427A: Fermentation Principles - Module I
ALS 427B: Mammalian Cell Biotechnology - Module II

Please visit; http://www.bioconacademy.com/ for more information



Frequently asked questions: http://www.bioconacademy.com/admission-Faq.aspx

I would like to apply for ICMR JRF post and I need to know if M.Tech (in Biotechnology) comes under the qualification M.Sc./M.A. or equivalent degree, for ICMR JRF.

Diabetes is a disease characterized by a 'prolonged' increase in blood sugar level, leading to an array of physiological disorders. Uncontrolled increase in blood sugar level (also termed as: Hyperglycaemia) if left untreated, eventually culminates into damaging various organs of the body. According to recent reports of WHO, about 347 million people worldwide have been affected by diabetes!

Causes and Types of Diabetes
Cause of diabetes may be linked to two factors. The two factors have lead to classification of diabetes into two types as well.

a) Type I Diabetes
Following is a very intuitive depiction of Type-1 diabetes (source: medicinenet)

Symptoms of Type-1 diabetes:
Type-1 diabetes is often characterized by polyuria (excessive urination) , polydipsia (high thirst), constant hunger, weight loss, vision changes and fatigue.

a) Type II Diabetes
Following is a very intuitive depiction of Type-1 diabetes (source: medicinenet)

Symptoms of Type-2 diabetes:
Symptoms are often similar to Type 1 diabetes, but generally less marked than those in type-1. It's due to this less marked nature of the symptoms that, Type-2 diabetes may be diagnosed several years after onset post complications.

Recently, Children have also been observed to be affected by it.


Other types of Diabetes:

Gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes, as the name suggests occurs during pregnancy. Hyperglycaemia does occur in this type of diabetes with blood glucose values above normal but below those diagnostic of diabetes. It often leads to increased risk of complications during pregnancy and at delivery with risk of type 2 diabetes in future.

Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG)

Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG) are termed as intermediate conditions in the transition between normality and diabetes. Althought not necessary, people with IGT or IFG are at high risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes.

Diagnosis of Diabetes

Diagnosis of Diabetes in general:
1. Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test
A1C test is used to index the average blood sugar level of past two to three months of an individual. The A1C test is based on the attachment of glucose to hemoglobin (the oxygen carrying protein in RBCs). The typical life span of an RBC in body is around 3 months. Thus, the A1C test helps indexing the average of a person’s blood glucose levels over the past 3 months. Reported as a percentage. The higher the percentage, the higher a person’s blood glucose levels have been. A normal A1C level is below 5.7 percent.

2. Random blood sugar test
Irrespective of the time of meal, a person's random blood sugar level shouldn't be at or above 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L). Above the 11.1 mmol/L level, a person can be suspected of diabetes, especially when observed to report symptoms of diabetes, such as frequent urination and thirst. Thus, Random Blood Sugar test is aimed at probing the concentration of sugar in blood at any random time.

3. Fasting blood sugar test
Fasting blood sugar test is done to observe the level of sugar in the blood of a person who has fasted for atleast 12 hours (often overnight). Fasting blood sugar levels less than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) are considered normal, while those between 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L) are considered prediabetes. Levels at 126 mg/dL (7 mmol/L) or above on two separate tests indicate that the person is having diabetes.

Diagnosis of Type-1 Diabetes vs Type 2 Diabetes
Once diagnosed with diabetes, it becomes important to ascertain the exact type of diabetes one is suffering from, as it is extremely significant in getting right line of treatment.

Apart from the indicative parameters of age of onset, precise tests for autoantibodies, C-peptide assay and test for presence of ketone bodies in urine can mark the difference between two types of diabetes.

Diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes is diagnosed through prenatal screening, rather than through the reported symptoms.[/i]

Treatment of Diabetes
Type-1 Diabetes Treatment
Type-2 Diabetes Treatment
Being more related to life-style issues, the first line of treatment of Type-2 diabetes involves:
Exercise (atleast 3-4 hours a week) and appropriate diet (not more than 1800 calories a day being the ideal way to go).

In most cases, insulin administration is not needed and some oral medicines like Metformin (which works by limiting liver's production of glucose and increasing insulin sensitivity) are prescribed.

External administration of insulin might be needed if life style changes and medications aren't able to control blood sugar level.

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1. Stem Cells in Diabetes Treatment (CLICK HERE for updates)


2. Betatrophin, a new hormone for diabetes control (CLICK HERE for updates)


3. Successful use of Gene Therapy in treating Type-1 Diabetes (CLICK HERE for updates)

and many more to come...

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I have done M.Tech Biotechnology and have carried out my research project in Bioproducts Lab in CSIR-CLRI,Chennai .Presently,i m looking for job opportunities .Can u please help me in this regard.

Hello.

I've been having some recent problems while doing the 16s rRNA procedure. I am testing unknown samples of bacteria, which I will sequence later. I isolate the DNA directly from agar plates taking approximately 20 colonies using Qiagen DNeasy spin columns.

The problem is some of the samples are showing as negative on the elecrophoresis gel, while the negative control is positive. I have done it 3 times, and it always gives the same result. I am very careful and I doubt it is contamination, and if it is contamination it would be likely that the other samples would be falsely positive as well.

I am therefore wondering if it could be that the negative control has a smaller volume than the real samples. The samples are 15 ul each, but the negative has 12 ul since it has no template DNA. I enter the total volume as 15 ul on the PCR machine, and I am not sure if that can make a problem for the negative control.

I highly appreciate any answer to this!  

Thank you.

Hello Sunil sir,

I want to know about the standard of Biotech department of the following NITs for M.tech, mainly based on the Lab facility not the Placements. Acc to u which one is better?

1) NIT- Allahabad
2) NIT-Rourkella
3) NIT-Durgapur
4) NIT-Bhopal

Another thing is, the avg. fees for the NITs is around Rs. 45,000 per sem but for NIT-Rourkella it is too much , around Rs. 77,000 per sem. Any information why such a huge fees structure?

Regards,
Bharat.