Post M.Sc Diploma in Genetic Engineering and Bioprocess Development

The one year course, supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India, is with the aim of providing specialized training and skills to both in-service candidates from industry as well as fresh students in specific areas of genetic engineering and bioprocess development and allied areas of application value. Such a course offers an ideal opportunity to train human resource and work together with industry in the newly emerging areas of biotechnology. It also fulfills a major need to the industry in this region.

Syllabus

Paper I : General Microbiology and Immunology

Unit 1 : Introduction to Microbiology, Microbial diversity with representative examples, structure and organization of microbial cells, Microbiology in the environment : water and sewage, air, environmental pollution and biodegradation.

Unit 2 : Microbial physiology and biochemistry, Aerobic and anaerobic growth, microbial nutrition, growth kinetics, microbiological methodology with reference to special metabolic pathways and emphasis on industrial applications.

Unit 3 : Medical microbiology and immunology, Microbiology in human disease, introduction to immunology, basic immunological techniques, immunodiagnostic methods with examples of applications, monoclonal antibodies.

Paper II : Principles of Genetic Engineering

Unit 1 : Structure and properties of DNA/RNA, Hybridization techniques, introduction to molecular biology : basics of gene organization, transcription, translation and replication.

Unit 2 : Basics of bacterial and fungal genetics, methods in microbial genetics : mutagenesis and screening, strain improvement, transgenic plants and animals.

Unit 3 : Principles of cloning, introduction to cloning vectors, construction of genomic and cDNA libraries, PCR and DNA-based diagnostic techniques. DNA sequencing, Site directed mutagenesis, protein structure - function, relationship.

Paper III : Bioprocess Technology

Unit 1 : Raw materials for bioprocessing, comparison of chemical and biochemical processing based on energetics and environmental issues. Development of inocula, kinetics of enzymatic and microbial processes, optimisation studies, sterilization of media, air and equipment, modes of cell cultivation, general principles of bioreactor design and their operation.

Unit 2 : Downstream processing, separation and purification techniques, quality assurance testing, representative examples of microbial products, vaccines and vaccine development, immobilization of cells and enzymes : principles, methodology and applications, disintegration of cells, separation of solid and liquid phases, isolation and purification techniques for proteins and other products based on different physico-chemical properties, eg., precipitation, adsorption, chromatographic separations, bio-affinity based methods.

Unit 3 : Principles of bioprocess control, bioprocess automation and application of computers in bioprocessing, recombinant products with representative examples, biosafety and environmental monitoring of GEMs, Introduction to patents, Intellectual Property Rights in Biotechnology.