Admission to the Ph.D. program in the Department of Biotechnology, IITH

The Department of Biotechnology, established in 2010, offers outstanding research programs in the frontier areas of biotechnology encompassing both applied and basic research spanning various experimental and computational frontiers. Research activities in the department are funded by national agencies such as DBT, DST, ICMR, CSIR, etc. The mission of the Ph.D. program is to develop a new generation of scientific leaders with scientific vigor, critical thinking, ethics, and multitasking managerial skills to thrive in the fast-paced technology-driven industry and academia. We foster innovations through cutting-edge technologies and interdisciplinary research.

Applications are invited from suitably qualified & motivated candidates for admission to the Ph.D. program in the Department of Biotechnology, IITH, in the following research areas :

Research Areas and Faculty
Computational Labs
1. Computational microbial 'omics'; Biomolecular interaction prediction using machine learning
Prof. Thenmalarchelvi Rathinavelan
2. Computational genomics and transcriptomics, AI/ML and deep-learning for precision medicine, RadioGenomics, predictive biomarkers in cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, epigenomics, Phrmacogenomics, Medical image analysis, development of computational tools/applications.
Dr. Rahul Kumar
3. Computational biology, bioinformatics, Transcriptomics / proteomics / metabolomics data-driven & machine- learning models, Biological networks, Metabolism, Parasitology & Immunology
Dr. Abhishek Subramanian
4. Microbial genomics, Evolutionary biology, Microbial diversity, Plant Genomics, Plant metagenomics, Microbiome, Plant-microbe interactions, Computational biology, prediction webservers.
Dr. Gaurav Sharma
5. AI/ML analysis of multi-omics datasets of Indian Cancer Patients
Dr. Ashish Misra

Experimental Labs
1. Molecular characterization of DNA alkylation damage repair enzymes, Role of DNA alkylation in cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. : Prof. Anindya Roy
2. Investigating disease/toxicity mechanisms using in-vivo zebrafish models. Structure-function relationship of membrane protein using patch-clamp electrophysiology. : Prof. Anamika Bhargava
3. Characterization of cancer drug targets, Epigenetics, and DNA repair, Drug/inhibitor design, X-ray crystallography, Biophysics and biochemistry, Computational biology, Liquid-liquid phase separation, and enzyme engineering/design. : Prof. Rajakumara Eerappa
4. Circadian rhythm, Neurobiology of aging, Cancers, Mental health, Chronomedicine-novel therapeutics, Integrated multi-omics, Mass spectrometry. : Dr. Sandipan Ray
5. Chromosome dynamics and genetic disorders, single- molecule imaging, chromatin remodeling, cancer therapy target aurora kinase B, cell division, gene regulation, advanced fluorescence microscopy. : Dr. Gunjan Mehta
6. Cancer genomics and biomarker discovery, 3D cancer model development, Drug resistance and repurposing, Long noncoding RNAs, Alternative splicing and RNA metabolism in cancer, Protein Engineering. : Dr. Ashish Misra
7. Protein Interaction Analysis lab: Human-Virus protein- protein interaction : Dr. N.K. Raghavendra
8. Exploring the molecular mechanisms of human diseases: Antimicrobial resistance, neurodegenerative disorders, intrinsically disordered proteins in cancer, and small- molecule ligand screening : Prof. Thenmalarchelvi Rathinavelan

Minimum Eligibility Criteria
1. Full-time Institute Fellowship (funded by MoE) : Any candidates with MTech can apply. Any candidates with an MSc/BTech/BE/MBBS (With GATE/NET) can also apply
2. Fellowship from external funding agency : MTech/MSc/BTech/BE candidates with a valid CSIR-NET-JRF/UGC- NET-JRF/ICMR- JRF/DBT-JRF (Category- I) award or any other equivalent national-level qualification for research fellowship tenable at IITH (e.g., DST-INSPIRE fellowship)
3. Special PhD (High CGPA) [Special Fellowship of Rs. 80,000/pm for 4 years] : BE/BTech/BS from IITs/ IISc/IISERs/MBBS from AIIMS

For any applicants Degree should be in Life Sciences/ Biotechnology/ Medical/Physical/Chemical Sciences or closely related fields

Note : Prospective applicants must ensure they meet all eligibility criteria before applying. Shortlisting criteria are usually higher than the eligibility criteria mentioned above. The department reserves the right to set any cut- off criteria for shortlisting the candidates.

Selection Procedure
Note : The department has the right not to select any candidate if appropriate candidates are not found.
• Candidates will be shortlisted according to the criteria set by a shortlisting committee and called for an interview subsequently.
• Selection to the Ph.D. program will be based on the performance in the interview(s).
• Request to change the interview date/time will not be entertained