Admission to Ph.D. Program (Semester 2, 2026-2027) in the interdisciplinary areas of Life Sciences, IBAB

IBAB is an autonomous Institution set up by the Department of Electronics, IT, BT and S&T of the Government of Karnataka in 2001. Over the last 25 years, the Institute has grown into a world-class institution offering educational programs in Bioinformatics, Biotechnology and Big Data Biology. IBAB has established excellent facilities in both computational and experimental Life Sciences and houses state-of-the-art computing infrastructure including

Graphical Processing Units (GPU) servers, high-end workstations and high-capacity network and storage facilities besides well-equipped state-of-the-art bioscience laboratories for experimental work. The Institute has well qualified faculty with international experience and offers Ph.D. programs in frontier areas of interdisciplinary Life Sciences.

Research Areas
• Disease Genomics and Pharmacogenomics
• Multiomic integration (Cancer, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Stroke, Malaria, metabolic disorders, ageing, spermatogenesis) for biomarker discovery
• Single Cell-Sequencing and Spatial Transcriptomics
• Synthetic and Systems Biology
• Photoprotection mechanisms in biomolecules and Quantum Biology
• Graph Algorithms and Information Theory for Modelling Biological States using
• AI/ML

Eligibility
Master’s degree (2 years) in any branch of Life Sciences/ Biotechnology/Bioengineering/ Bioinformatics/ Computational Biology/ Computer Science and Engineering / Pharmacy /Medicine / Physics / Chemistry with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent, OR
B.Tech./ B.E or equivalent (4 years) in any branch of Science/Technology with 75% marks or equivalent

Selection Procedure
• All the applications received will be screened and only the shortlisted candidates will be called for the in-person written test to be conducted on campus.
• The entrance exam will be conducted at IBAB campus in Bengaluru on 3 December, 2026 (forenoon). Results of the entrance exam will be announced on the same day, followed by in- person interviews of the shortlisted candidates on 3-4 December, 2026. • The candidates are requested to make their travel plan accordingly.
• Please visit the webpage of IBAB for details regarding the faculty research areas and the PhD projects being floated for the current round of selections
• The outstation candidates (non-Bengaluru) who are shortlisted to appear for the in-person written test/interview at the IBAB campus, will be reimbursed their travel fare by Train-Sleeper Class (SL) or Public Bus fare by the shortest route, whichever is cheapest. They will have to furnish the proof of travel. If a candidate decides to choose a different mode (e.g. 3AC, air, etc.), they will only be reimbursed the Train-Sleeper Class or Public Transport Bus fare by the
shortest route.

Stipend / Fellowship
• IBAB strongly encourages students with their own fellowships (CSIR-UGC, DST-INSPIRE, DBT-JRF and ICMR-JRF) to apply to the Ph.D. program
• Exceptional candidates without a fellowship or a valid GATE score shall be provided with a competitive assistantship by the Institute

Application Procedure
Candidates who satisfy the eligibility criteria must submit the application online along with the application fee of Rs. 800/- via NEFT.

Important Dates
Application Start Date : October 19, 2026
Deadline for Submission of Application Form : November 16, 2026
Shortlisted candidates (Written Test) : November 20, 2026
Date of Examination (Shortlisted candidates only) : December 3, 2026
Date of Interview : December 3 and 4, 2026
Commencement of the Ph.D. program : January 1, 2027