Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics

About the Department

Profile

The department of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics at the North Eastern Hill University, Shillong was established  in the year 2005 with the new building of the department formally was inaugurated on 17^th August 2007 by Dr. M.K. Bhan, the then Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. The department offers Post Graduate (M.Sc.) and Ph.D academic programmes. Development of North Eastern Region of India, the biodiversity hotspot, by sustainable utilization of the available bioresources along with its exploration and conservation is dependent on the availability of trained manpower in Biotechnology which also requires applied linkages of biotechnological work with bioinformatics network. Therefore, the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics has initiated the programme and is providing training and research environment to the students and scholars with latest information in their respective fields and brings them closer to the rest of the world as far as scientific advancements are concerned.

 The department works on it primary objectives

• To introduce students to the principles, practices and application of animal, plant, and microbial biotechnology and its applications along with plant, animal and microbial genomics and genetic transformation.
• To provide training in research, such that students are able to define, organise and undertake a research project about the use of biotechnology to address local and global problems.
• To create an ability to think critically, to communicate and to enable students to implement the scientific skills for industrial applications and entrepreneurship development.

Based on the overall academic objectives of the Department and its faculties’ potentialities, the department   was considered for financial support for “M.Sc. Biotechnology Teaching Programme” by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India  in 2006 which is now renewed for the Phase-II support in 2020.

The department while giving importance to the global scenario has the regional importance in research and development incorporated in its programme. This programme is intended to develop, acquire and    maintain modern state-of-the art teaching, training, research, databases and software related to biologically rich resources of the North Eastern region of India, which could ultimately contribute towards socio-economic development of the people of the region in particular and the country as a whole.

Admission to the M.Sc course in Biotechnology offered by the department is made through  the Graduate Aptitude Test-Biotechnology (GAT-B) previously conducted as Combined Entrance Examination for Biotechnology(CEEB) by JNU. GAT-B is now conducted by Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad on behalf of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Infrastructure/facilities

Over the years, the Department has been able to develop one of the best infrastructures for its teaching and research programmes. Two lecture halls and two laboratories provide exquisite environment to the students for their teaching-learning activities in theory and practicals. To aid further, students are having access to the Central Instrumentation Facility, Research Laboratories, Green Houses, Library and Computers Laboratory. The department has good bioinformatics facility augmented with latest tools and software enriched Bioinformatics Laboratory.

The department has major Equipments needed for modern research in biotechnology with  well equipped Animal House facility, Green House facility, Animal cell culture,  Plant cell culture and Microbial culture facility, Biosafety Room, Bioinformatics facility, Departmental Library and  63 KV Generator and 30 KV UPS power supply.

Highlights

• The department has received Grants and extramural research support from various funding agencies such as DBT, DST, SERB, MeitY, DRDO, BRNS, NEC, OIL, UGC, Government of Meghalaya etc. 
• About 42% of the students, since the inception of the department, have qualified UGC-CSIR-NET, GATE, DBT-JRF, ICAR-NET.
• Approximately 32% of students from each batch have been joining for research for their Ph.D degree.
• The alumni of the department are placed/joined various institutes like  NEHU, IIT-Guwahati, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Madras, IIT- Gandhinagar, IICB-Kolkata, National Brain Research Center, Tezpur University, Gauhati University, NEIST Jorhat, NISERs etc.
• Many of the  past students have joined industries like Jubilant Biosys, Stelis Biopharma, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory, Biozene, Glenmark Research Centre, Paraxel, Hyde, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Zydus Cadilla etc.
• Some of the students have  turned into entrepreneurs after their M.Sc and PhD degree.  Dr. Debojit Kalita and two other members of M/s Caliche Pvt. Ltd, a start up company, under the mentorship of Prof. SR Joshi (NEHU) and Prof. Pakshirajan (IIT Guwahati) has formulated a microbial solution and a mechanical technology device to stop the sand influx problem. The formulation is already tested in OIL and ONGC wells for reducing the choking effect of sand during drilling. 
• Dr. Pramal Biswa is the Chief Operating Officer of FIB-SOL Life Technologies Pvt. Ltd. whose first product is a line of Ultralight water soluble biofertilizer membrane, loaded with beneficial microbes. These nano-membranes are able to load 10-100 billion microbial cells/g, bringing down the biofertilizer application volume by thousand times.
• Dr. Rothangmawi Victoria Hmar is in Bugworks Research Pvt. Ltd incubated in C-CAMP, Bangalore which works in infection drug discovery focused on developing a novel class of antibiotics to solve the menace of antimicrobial resistance. Presently her work includes validation and scale-up of academic projects towards industry application.
• Ms. Melinda Nongbet Sohlang and her team comprising of Dr. Baphilinia Jones Mylliemngap, Dr. Carey Vana Rynjah, Dr. Sillarine Kurkalang, Mr. Sairos Jyrwa and Shillong Bamboo Inc have been awarded the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistant Council-Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIRAC-BIG) North-East scheme for their start-up proposal on “Biodegradable Adult Diapers”. The diapers will be equipped with a biosensor to alert the caretakers and users when the diaper is wet.
• The department has been hosting DST-INSPIRE Faculty Awardees, DST-Kothari Fellowship Awardees, INSA-NASI-IAS Summer Research Fellows of Science Academies SRF Programme. 

Thrust Areas of Research:

• Molecular Genetics
• Microbiology