Tezpur University focuses on emerging areas of basic and applied life sciences and creates trained manpower in the fields of molecular biology and biotechnology

The Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (MBBT) at the Tezpur University was established in 1997. The department is recognized by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, and granted accreditations for the post-graduate program.

The department offers two-year MSc in molecular biology and biotechnology, five-year integrated MSc in bioscience and bioinformatics and PhD in molecular biology and biotechnology. There are 11 faculties in the department who are taking care of teaching as well as research activities.

The Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (BIF) at the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology was established in 2007 under the Biotechnology Information System Network (BTISnet) scheme of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India to promote innovation in teaching biology through bioinformatics. The goal of this facility is to expose students and researchers to use bioinformatics in solving hard core biological problems.

The bioinformatics facility at MBBT provides awareness about bioinformatics and its usefulness in the field of biological sciences, stimulates interest in students to undertake research in advanced methods in the field of modern biology, assists the teaching activities of biology and its allied areas of the host institute as well as the neighboring institutions, and provides laboratory support for students/researchers and computation facility to faculty and technical staff of the institute.

In the academic year 2009-10, many students from this department have qualified in GATE, DBT-JRF, ICMR -JRF and UGC-CSIR NET exams. Most of the passed out MSc and PhD students from the The Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology are pursuing higher studies (doctoral and post-doctoral research) in some of the premier research institutes/universities in the country and abroad. In addition, many students have secured jobs in R&D sectors of industries as well as in scientific institutes as scientists, and as faculty members in many reputed universities and colleges all across the country.

Since June 2007, the department has published 21 research papers in national journals and 31 research papers have been published in international journals. The department has filed four biotech-related international patents so far. Between 2007 and 2010, the department has developed two biotech-related products that were subsequently transferred to the industry.