Welcome to Department of Biotechnology

VISION OF THE DEPARTMENT

The Department of Biotechnology at Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi was established in the year 1997 with a vision to be recognised as a Department of International repute with a strong interdisciplinary research and teaching base in Plant and Animal Biotechnology with active collaboration of industries and health-care institutions.

MISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT

• To create opportunities for multi-disciplinary education, training and research in biotechnology.
• To provide Biotechnology Educational Program with impetus to generate quality workforce.
• To create awareness about potentials of Biotechnology with socio-ethical implications.
• To instill spirit of innovation and creativity in young minds with sound research aptitude.
• To nurture confident individuals who are effective contributors towards growth of the nation.
• To establish industry academia partnership and partnership with health care institutions for health and industry-oriented research.  
• To provide in depth knowledge and practical exposure to students, so that they should qualify national exams and go for higher training in National/International laboratories.

RESEARCH AREAS

• Molecular biology and regulation of gene expression in infectious and non-infectious diseases.
• Host pathogen interaction, molecular immunology, molecular virology and drug delivery.
• Clinical virology and vaccine development.
• Development of diagnostic tests.
• Development of nano-enabled interfaces and multiplexed paper-based devices for the detection of diseases.
• Genomics/ Proteomics of cancers and development of biomarkers for early detection and valuable therapeutic targets.
• Conservation of medicinally important endangered plants through in vitro approach.
• Enhancement in the yield of secondary metabolites in medicinal plants via stress, culture conditions, genetic engineering and nanoparticles.
• Transgenics of vegetables, floriculture and oil crops.
• Evaluation of anti-Cancer potential of herbal based compounds and their nano formulations.
• Stress Biology, mechanism of protein folding and stabilization.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Departmental Instrumentation Facility (DIF): DIF is well equipped with basic and advanced instruments for training of students and research purpose. Millipore water system, Centrifuges, PCR, spectrophotometer, Freeze dryer, Deep freezers (-80°C), Real time PCR, Rota evaporator, GC-MS, Fluorescence Microscope, UV chamber, Shaker incubator, Ultra-centrifuge, Weighing balance, Ice flaking machine and Autoclaves.

Animal cell culture Facility: Animal cell culture facilities are well equipped with CO₂ incubators (New Brunswick, Shell lab), water bath, cabinets and microscopes. We have one well equipped dedicated cell culture facility for students training purpose. The departmental cell culture facility is used by research scholars and faculty members.

Plant Tissue culture facility: A media preparation, sterilization, and storage area, Laminar air flow chambers with HEPA filters, culture room with well-controlled temperature, humidity, air circulation and light quality and duration is available for the M.Sc. students and researchers.  Besides, Plant Growth Chamber is available in the Department. Hardening of in vitro raised plants is done in greenhouse by the researchers. 

BSL-II-B2 laboratory: Our department also have BSL-II facility well equipped with Biosafety level-II B2 cabinet (Haier), CO₂ incubator and microscope for infectious disease and clinical studies. This infrastructure is established from the project funds of Dr. Mairaj Ahmed Ansari.

Confocal microscopy: Our department is also having functional Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope from Leica Microsystem for use of M.Sc. students and Ph.D. Scholars of the Department as well as other Department and Schools of Jamia Hamdard.

Apart from above mentioned departmental common facilities, each faculty of the department have their own well-equipped laboratories required for research purpose. Besides, we are also availing FACS (BD) and nano-LC-MS (Waters) facilities available in the University.

CENTRE FOR TRANSGENIC PLANT DEVELOPMENT:

Centre for Transgenic Plant Development as a unit of the Dept. of Biotechnology was established in February 2004 with the research grants of CSIR (TMOP&M), Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India and inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture, Govt. of India, with a mandate to focus research in the development of transgenic plants with improved yield and quality of produced as well as development of DNA based finger prints for authentication of traditional medicines. Various labs in the Centre have specialized equipments and facilities to work. It is equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities to train Ph.D. and postdoctoral students and to carry out research in various disciplines of Plant and Microbial Biotechnology. The major R&D activities being pursued include cloning and characterization of novel genes linked with tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and quality traits of medicinal and crop plants, authentication and standardization of crude components of herbal formulations and nano vehicle assisted gene delivery in plants. The thrust areas of centre also include improving the quality of medicinal crops through genetic engineering of metabolic pathway; miRNA and RNAi approaches, conservation of medicinal plants; developments of easy, rapid, sensitive, cost effective method for aflatoxigenic mould detection in the groundnut kernels and soil and identification and quantification of aflatoxins in the food and feed. The centre always remains funded from Jamia Hamdard and other government agencies such as DST, DBT, Department of AYUSH, CCRUM, CSIR, ICMR, DRDO etc. for R&D projects carried out at the Centre. The consultancy projects from biotech companies are also carried out in the centre.

EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH FUNDING

The faculty members of the Department have been able to attract number of extramurally funded research projects from various national and international funding agencies such as DBT, DST, SERB, CSIR, ICAR, ICMR, DRDO, UGC, DoEn, ISM&H, CCRUM, AYUSH and World Bank.

UGC-Special Assistance Program

The SAP scheme was initiated in 1963 by University Grants Commission keeping in view the recommendations of the Education Commission to facilitate the selected number of University Departments having some potential in research and teaching. The programme is intended to encourage the pursuit of excellence and teamwork in advanced teaching and research to accelerate the realization of international standards in specific fields. The Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Hamdard was selected under UGC-SAP (DRS-I) from 2011 to 2016 with a sanctioned amount of Rs. 65 Lakhs.  Again in 2017, seeing the potential in research and teaching, Department of Biotechnology recommended to UGC-SAP (DRS-II) from 2018 to 2022 with a sanctioned amount of Rs. 116 Lakhs 

DST - FIST

Universities are cradles of innovation and knowledge creation. Research in universities has three-tier effects concerned with quality of under-graduate & postgraduate education and value of research. They are the source of generating high caliber manpower and repositories of national intellectual wealth in Science & Technology (S&T) sector, which if channelized properly, may lead to socioeconomic development.  In the emerging global scenario, India can be an ideal destination due to its cost effectiveness and availability of knowledge base. It must also aim for a permanent position in the field of Science & Technology. Considering the present status of the S&T sector in the universities and related academic institutions who are in dire need for strengthening the existing S&T infrastructure support with adequate funding and associated flexibility, Government of India in the year 2000 announced a major new initiative titled "Fund for Improvement of S&T infrastructure in universities & higher educational institutions (FIST)" to rebuild the Science & Technology infrastructure in the country.  The quality of UG and PG education and value of research, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India recommended Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Hamdard under DST-FIST (Phase – I) in 2019 and sanctioned amount of Rs. 80 Lakhs.

PLACEMENT CELL

To facilitate the placement and summer training of M.Sc. Biotechnology passing-out and passed-out batches in R&D institutions, Universities and Industries a Placement Cell was established by Prof. M.Z. Abdin in Department of Biotechnology in 2014.  The coordinators of the cell are Dr. Humaira Farooqi, Dr. Saima Wajid and Dr. Mairaj Ahmed Ansari  The placement cell has helped our students in fetching the job offers in various companies including Biocon, DelveInsight, ZS Associates India Pvt. Ltd., AceProbe Technologies (I) Pvt. Ltd, Double Helix Clinical Cytogenetics & Reproductive Immunology Centre and Genetix Biotech Asia Ltd. etc.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUTGOING STUDENTS

The students who successfully graduated from this department have been selected in various institutions including DRDO, CSIR laboratories, universities (Delhi University, Guru Gobind Singh University, Kashmir University, etc.), medical colleges such as PGIMER (Chandigarh), CSIR-IMTECH (Chandigarh) and industry. Many opt for the PhD, and have been taken by premier institutes and research laboratories such as CSIR-CCMB (Hyderabad), IISc (Bangalore), ICGEB (New Delhi), AIIMS (New Delhi), NII (New Delhi), Dabur Research Foundation (Ghaziabad), NICD (New Delhi), NCBS (New Delhi), CSIR-CDRI (Lucknow), TERI (New Delhi), IARI (New Delhi), JNU (New Delhi), DU, South Campus (New Delhi), CSIR-IGIB (New Delhi), CDFD (Hyderabad) and laboratories abroad in USA, Germany, Denmark, Canada etc.

NET COACHING CLASSES    

Department organizes NET coaching classes for the M.Sc. Biotechnology students under the guidance of Head, Dept. of Biotechnology.  The Coordinators are Dr. Humaira Farooqi, Dr. Saima Wajid, Dr. Jagriti Narang, Dr. Javaid Ahmad Shaikh and Dr. Mairaj Ahmed Ansari.  The NET coaching classes are held on Saturdays from 9.00 AM to 1.00 PM.  These classes are taken by the teachers from the Dept. of Biotechnology and also from other departments of School of Chemical and Life Sciences as well as outside experts.  M.Sc. students are asked to submit those topics where they need coaching and to be discussed during NET coaching classes.

MONTHLY DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR

Monthly departmental seminar is being organized in the department from experts of the field to keep our students updated with ongoing cutting-edge scientific research.     

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faculty Members

Dr. M.Z. Abdin, M.Sc., Ph.D., Professor & Head

Dr. Humaira Farooqi, M.Sc, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Dr. Saima Wajid, M.Sc., Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Dr. Jagriti Narang, M.Sc., Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Dr. Javaid Ahmad Sheikh, M.Sc., Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Dr. Mairaj Ahmed Ansari, M.Sc., Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Dr. Monica Saifi, M.Sc., Ph.D., Assistant Professor (C)

Dr. Javed Ahmad, M.Sc., Ph.D., Assistant Professor (C)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TECHNICAL STAFF

OUTSOURCING STAFF