Degrees Offered

With the Life Sciences major, a student can graduate with any of the four degrees offered.

Learning Outcomes

The Life Sciences major is designed to train you in a range of interdisciplinary skills and areas.

Cellular and Molecular Life Processes

Develop an understanding of how molecular processes underlie the functioning of the cell and eventually the entire organism. Develop an understanding of cooperation and competition among cells, tying these to the function of organs and health of the organism at a macro level. Learn the fundamental laboratory techniques used in molecular biology.

Biotechnology

Explore the various facets of biotechnology in solving pressing global challenges, such as developing treatments against emerging pathogens, therapies for diseases like cancer and extending the human healthspan. Gain the skills to harness technological advancements and drive transformative advancements in biotechnological research.

Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Acquire interdisciplinary skills in bioinformatics and computational biology, merging multiple sciences and technologies. Gain the ability to analyse and interpret biological data in the sequences, structures, and expression of DNA, RNA, and proteins to unlock insights and drive advancements in these fields.

Scientific Reasoning and Logic

Cultivate a strong foundation in scientific reasoning and logical thinking. Enhance critical thinking skills to analyse complex problems, evaluate evidence, and make informed decisions in the field of life sciences.

Scientific Curiosity and Exploration

Foster a sense of curiosity and an innate drive for exploration. Develop the ability to ask meaningful questions, pursue independent research, and stay updated with the latest advancements in the field of life sciences.

Conceptualisation of Real-World Projects

Deeper understanding of real life problems with a scientific approach. Amalgamation of interdisciplinary skills to address the real life problems and come up with innovative solutions/proposals that address the problems in a holistic way, considering the ethical, social and environmental factors .

Systems-Thinking Approach to Sustainability

Understanding of the deeply knitted ecological systems and their interdependencies. Develop a systems-thinking and feasible approach to attain sustainability in all aspects of Life Sciences and its contribution to all sectors of society. Perceive and design approaches based on environmental factors and socio-economic factors together with cultural aspects too.

Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Genetics

Be able to acquire the key skill sets in the practical approaches while dealing with lab oriented disciplines like biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics. Being able to correlate the theoretical knowledge gained with the practical outcomes. Gain proficiency in laboratory techniques that require practice and precision along with good laboratory practices.

Data Acquisition and Analysis

Learning to collect data and transforming that into information. Be proficient in data analysis, interpretation and employment of different statistical tools for gaining relevant insight. Gain proficiency in the use of different bioinformatics tools for the interpretation of biological data that can be employed at its best for attaining the required information within a short time with maximum efficiency and minimum resources.

Microscopy and Imaging

Develop expertise in microscopy and imaging techniques for visualising and analysing biological structures and processes. Learn to utilise various microscopy modalities and imaging software to explore the microscopic world of life sciences.

Mathematical Methods for Biological Sciences

Acquire mathematical skills and techniques applicable to the study of biological sciences. Learn to apply mathematical modelling, statistical analysis, and computational methods to analyse biological phenomena and solve complex problems.

Programming Languages in Life Sciences

Develop proficiency in programming languages and computational tools relevant to life sciences. Acquire the ability to write and implement code for data analysis, simulation, and bioinformatics applications.

3D Modelling and Material Objects Shaping

Gain proficiency in handling and shaping material objects relevant to life sciences. Develop skills in techniques such as 3D printing, precision machining, and art, enabling you to create physical models, prototypes, and artistic representations.

Conceptualisation and Execution of Long-Term Projects

To acquire the ability to conceptualise and execute long-term projects in the field of life sciences. To learn project management skills, including goal setting, timeline planning, resource allocation, and effective team coordination for both long term and short term projects in industry.

Design and Fabrication Skills

To develop design and fabrication skills for instrumentation, be it biomedical or laboratory related, both wet lab and dry lab. To be able to learn to design and create experimental setups, laboratory equipment, and prototypes that support scientific research and innovation.

Science Communication Skills

Master effective communication skills, both written and verbal, in the context of life sciences. Learn to present research findings, articulate scientific concepts, and engage in interdisciplinary collaboration to effectively communicate with diverse audiences.

Plant Biology

Get a deeper knowledge on plant morphology, anatomy, physiology and metabolism.

Plant Biotechnology and Tissue Culture

Gain knowledge on plant transformation, genetic engineering, production of disease-free plants (crop improvement), conservation of endangered species, and plant-based pharmaceutical production. Acquire the skill of plant regeneration through tissue culture, growth analysis for important agriculture and horticulture crops, develop strategies for mitigating the effects of stress and improving plant resilience.

Plant Communication

Explore the communication among the plants, interaction of plants with parasitic plants, microbes, endophytes at molecular level.

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Get an understanding of evolutionary processes that produce and modify the diversity of life on earth,biodiversity, interactions between organisms and their environment, the flow of matter and energy in biological ecosystems.

Immunology

Understand Innate and Adaptive immunity, Humoral and Cell mediated immunity, Clonal proliferation, Cells and Organs of immune system, B and T lymphocytes, Antigen-antibody interactions and techniques to characterise them, Haptens, Adjuvants, Classification of Immunoglobulins, Cytokines, Allergy and Vaccines.

Fundamentals of IPR and Biosafety (GLP)

Every innovator, researcher and scientist needs to understand their rights about protecting their intellectual property, i.e. their ideas that can be easily plagiarised. You will learn the very basics of the same here. There is a set of guidelines to make every scientific experiment successful, called good laboratory practices. You will learn how to use maximum resources in a lab keeping in mind the safety and harmony of the experimentation.

Signature Projects

The Code of Life: Extract and Analyse DNA: Understand the structure and function of DNA and RNA; the molecules that carry the information necessary to create all known life.

 

Molecular Diagnostics using PCR: Conceptualize and perform experiments to amplify specific pieces of DNA to infer the characteristic of organisms, with potential applications to disease diagnostics. You can learn how to infer Rh-factor analysis, paternity testing and also appreciate innumerable applications of this revolutionary technique.

 

Recombinant DNA: Use Nucleases to Genetically Alter Plasmids: Learn the fundamentals of altering small sequences of DNA using bacterial enzymes. Currently, these applications are in use to make vaccines, antibodies, genetically modified organisms, to improve crop life barring the use of chemical pesticides etc.

 

From Atoms to Cells: Probe Cellular Structure and Theorise About its Atomic Basis: Understand the properties of the building blocks of matter. Use this knowledge to conceptualise how atoms arrange themselves in a three dimensional manner to create the complex forms of life. You will be pondering upon the diversified atomic structures that lead to various cell/tissue types and their respective structural integrity.

 

From Cells to Organisms: Dissect, Image and Theorise About Multicellular Life: Explore the journey of a single cell as it evolves from evolution of multicellular life forms from single cells, uncover principles of cellular organisation and communication.

 

Analysing Sustainability: Build Environmental and Social Network Maps and Predict Outcomes: Explore the principles of how connected systems survive and sustain themselves, from the level of organisms to societies to entire ecosystems and in turn take up this inspiration of the past to build a sustainable present and ultimately, future.

 

Fundamentals of Microscopy: Explore the different methods available to modern scientists to visualise structural details inside cells and tissues. Begin by learning the fundamentals of visible light optical microscopic systems, as well as how to process samples and acquire images independently. Continue to explore microscopy via exposure to fluorescence microscopy and optical contrast methods such as phase and differential interference contrast.

 

Fundamentals of Histology: Learn the fundamentals of tissue preservation and processing for microscopy. Get an early hands on exposure to thin sectioning of paraffin embedded tissue using microtomes.

 

Plant and Animal Tissue Processing: Histology and Immunohistochemistry: Learn the fundamentals of processing and observing solid biological matter using tissues from animals and plants. Learning on different types of Plant culture such as callus culture, explants culture, organogenesis, etc.

 

Molecular Biology and Microbial Genomics: Fundamental understanding of the genetic and molecular ornamentation of the micro-cosmos around us and the subsequent analogies with the eukaryotic system will provide insights towards a deeper learning of their behavioural pattern. As a part of the project, you will also learn how to grow microorganisms in the laboratory from different biological samples around us, observe them macro- and microscopically, and analyse their characteristics.

 

Fundamentals of Molecular Biology: Curious about how DNA can be visualised? In this project, you will learn about how scientists and researchers in academia and industry use techniques such as agarose gel electrophoresis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA and RNA extraction methods, cloning, etc to analyse biomolecules and their signature patterns. Use of bioinformatics tools to visualise and compare the phylogenetic relationships between the human DNA and its close associates at the molecular level.

Data Acquisition Systems: Build Arduino and NIDAQ based time-lapse data acquisition systems: Learn how to build modern data acquisition systems and use them to acquire time-series data from the environment and biological systems, gives a deeper understanding of algorithms and programming insights.

 

Data Analysis: Acquire and Analyse Local Air Pollution Data: Explore and implement modern data analysis techniques based on self-acquired data using different statistical tools to gain a better insight from the collected data into the various aspects.

 

Analyse DNA and protein sequences of pathogens: Use bioinformatic and computational tools to analyse the DNA and protein sequences of pathogens to predict the effect of mutations on protein structure and function. Names of some famous tools to intrigue?

 

Understanding Innate and adaptive immune response against pathogens: Using antibody-antigen interaction via ELISA or similar immunoassays, PCR based detection and Western Blotting, characterise the pathogen. As well as find out the activation of specific cytokines and factors/marker proteins associated with innate or adaptive immune responses.

 

Plant Proteins: Extraction, Estimation and Visualization: Explore the techniques of plant protein extraction and visualisation using PolyAcrylamide Gel Electrophoresis, comparison of protein samples from different plant parts by both quantitatively and qualitatively, using different plants.

 

Study of Plant Defence Mechanism: Analysis of secondary metabolites including phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, antioxidants and defence enzymes from different parts of plants to understand the plant metabolism and physiology under various biotic and abiotic stress conditions.

 

Plant Microbe Interaction: Investigation of bacterial and fungal endophytes and their role in plant metabolism and protection.

 

Algorithms and data structures: Here, you walk through various structures of data and the basic concepts of algorithms to understand biological systems and simultaneously optimise research methodology for big data analysis and complex data models in life sciences and applied fields.

Please Note: The projects listed above are tentative and may change to meet emerging developments in the field.

Career Outcomes

With a major in Life Sciences, a range of career avenues open up for you across a variety of areas in the following sectors

• Biotechnology Industry
• Pharmaceutical Industry
• Bioinformatics Industry
• Quality control
• Higher education in the Biological Sciences , environmental sciences and Biotechnology
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Diagnostics and pathological laboratory
• Fundamental and applied research
• Management and administration of biotech facilities
• Agriculture Industry (Biofertilizer)
• Seed industry
• Food Industry or Food processing Industries
• Analytics Lab or Industry
• Plant based Pharma industry
• Medical Coding and Informatics
• Environmental consulting Industry

Job Opportunities

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