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Thursday, December 19, 2024 - 07:28
Department of Microbiology
About Department
Microbes are playing important role in the bioprocess of all living things and maintain homeostasis of the universe. Without microbes, one cannot imagine such a biologically balanced and diverse universe; rather our earth would have placed as a barren planet. As the microbial activities are so diverse, the microbiology programme is a multidisciplinary subject, which will have the roots of life science, environmental science, and engineering. Traditional microbiology is considered to be an important area of study in biology since it has enormous potential and vast scope in fermentation, bioremediation and biomedical technology. But the recent developments from human microbiome project, metagenomics and microbial genome projects has expanded its scope and potential in the next generation drug design, molecular pathogenesis, phylogeography, production of smart biomolecules, etc. Modern Microbiology has expanded its roots in genome technology, nanobiotechnology, green energy (biofuel) technology, bioelectronics etc. Considering recent innovations and rapid growth of microbiological approaches and applications in human and environmental sustainability, the M.Sc. Microbiology curricula is designed to enlighten the students in basics of Microbiology to recent developments. The first semester curricula would cover basic concepts including biomolecules and metabolism, cell and molecular biology and techniques in microbiology. In the second semester, the students will study core microbiology including bacteriology, mycology, virology etc, subsequently they will study applied and modern microbiology including environmental, food, agriculture, aquatic microbiology, microbial genomics and metagenomics. A unique feature of the curricula includes both theory and practical course for each papers and dissertation work in the fourth semester.
The M. Sc., Microbiology Programme was started in the year 2009 and is housed under the Department of Studies in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Life Sciences. The M.Sc., Microbiology Programme is committed to excellence in education, research and extension. The programme is being strengthened with various research units and periodical update / modernization of the curricula. The M.Sc., Microbiology programme at the Pondicherry University, School of Life Sciences, brings together a variety of researchers as faculty of this programme who are specialized in their domains and united by the common goal of understanding the “Microbes”. Their individual research interests are varied and can be viewed on their profiles.
Entrance Examination
M.Sc.Microbiology: The selection of student is based on All India entrance examination. The question paper will consists of objective types of questions of multiple choices. The questions will be of testing the basic knowledge of the students in cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, genetic engineering, and general and applied Microbiology.
Programmes Offered
- M.Sc. Microbiology
- Ph.D. Microbiology
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Research Activities
- Metagenomics and Bioprospecting Research Unit
(Team leader: Dr. J. Selvin)
Metagenomics is an approach to explore and exploit uncultivabale microbial majority. Our research team is working on the exploration of sponge associated marine microbes. Marine sponges are living depository of diverse marine microbial communities including bacteria, archaea, microalgae, and fungi. The depository of metagenomic libraries and base-line data available from the ongoing research would be a sustainable source of supply for marine bioprospecting. Our current research is focused on the development of high throughput screening formats for biosurfactants, antibiotics, PHAs and enzymes.
- Fungal Genetics and Mycotoxicology Research Unit
(Team leader: Dr. Regina Sharmila Dass)
Fungal Genetics and Mycotoxicology Research Unit focusses on studies of gene organization and expression at the cellular and molecular levels in mycotoxigenic fungi. It emphasizes on inquiries into fungal cytology, biochemistry, physiology, genetics and molecular biology of mycotoxigenic fungi, which are a serious threat to animal and human health. The thrust is to increase the availability of electronic database information on providing credible, beneficial information related to mycological knowledge, molecular genetic resources and pave the way for international collaboration and increased global visibility.
- Microbial Biocatalysis and Drug Discovery Research Unit
(Team leader: Dr. Busi Siddhardha)
The research unit of Biocatalysis and Drug Discovery is aimed to biocatalysis and biotransform natural & synthetic compounds and pharmaceutical intermediates using microbial whole cell system or isolated enzymes. The important research activities of the group are regio- and enantioselective synthesis of fine chemicals, biotransformation of natural products, bioprospecting of new enzymes by genome mining and high-throughput screening, Metabolic engineering, improving activity & stability of biocatalysts in non-aqueous environments and biodegradation of environmental pollutants.
- Enzyme Technology Research Unit
(Team leader: Dr. Sharmili Jagtap)
The principal research interest will be focused on microbial enzymes of industrial and ecological importance. The isolation and screening of enzyme producers, strain improvement, Enzyme purification and characterization, applications in industries, crystallization and other biophysical studies would be part of my research. The lab would also like to explore the proteins involved in cell cycle regulation and elucidate their role in development and ageing. Future work will also concentrate on working on anti-ageing molecules from natural sources using a suitable experimental model system.
- Cell Signalling Research Unit
(Team leader: Dr. Maheswaran Mani)
Cell signaling takes place through the engagement of the receptor with its cognate ligand. Defect in this routine cellular pathways leads to diseases and better understanding of the cell signaling pathways is needed for efficient treatment of the diseases for example cancer and blood disorders. Our lab is focused on understanding the signaling mechanism during microbial infections. Our lab is also interested in understanding signaling pathways via the stem cell factor and cytokine receptors in hematopoietic cells.
Student Activities
The programme reaches out to its post-graduates by organizing activities through its Students association “MICROARENA” which aims to diversify student’s activities by organizing seminar series, students meet and competitions. Do share in our vision to make this a world-class department.
Microbial Resources
http://cmr.jcvi.org/tigr-scripts/CMR/CmrHomePage.cgi
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/MICROBES/microbial_taxtree.html
http://www.embarc.eu/
http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/
www.asm.org/
http://www.simhq.org/
http://www.sgm.ac.uk/
http://www.microbiologyonline.org.uk/
http://www.iums.org/
http://www.escmid.org/
www.fems-microbiology.org/
www.isme-microbes.org/
http://www.microbeworld.org/
www.atcc.org/
www.amiindia.org/
http://mtcc.imtech.res.in/
Contact Us
Dr. Joseph Selvin, Professor & Head,
Dept. of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences,
Pondicherry University,
Puducherry 605 014, India
