Preparing for productive growth

Manipal Life Sciences Centre allows students to benefit from the excellent research facilities and placement opportunities

The Manipal Life Sciences Centre has secured the fourth rank in this year's BioSpectrum Top 20 survey, thus re-establishing its presence as one of the top BT schools in India. Last year Manipal started a PG Diploma in Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics as a part of the BT finishing school program which was received favorably with 11 students taking part in this initiative.

Over the last three years, the research conducted at Manipal has resulted in the application of nine patents in India regarding molecular epigenetic markers in different types of cancers through microarray analysis. The center has colloborated with Philips as a part of the project for identifying the disease causing epigenetic markers in breast cancer.

Over the past three years, Manipal has received funds to the tune of 68.73 lakh, through industry sponsored projects. These projects include those with Cipla for anti cancer drugs, Stempeutics for stem cell products and other companies for research in developing and purifying recombinant proteins and antibodies.

One of the differentiating factors in the masters program is the duration of the final semester project which is nine months, allowing the students to conduct good research either in the industry or on campus itself.

A variety of conferences were conducted on the campus over the last year to offer additional exposure to students. Also Manipal has been at the helm of organizing the DST sponsored INSPIRE program, for school students. It also conducted industry sponsored workshops to provide training in specialized techniques.

Most of its students who pass MSc invariably and successfully seek PhD admissions in India and abroad. The admission for these courses is carried out based on the scores obtained in a special entrance exam. The Manipal Life Sciences Centre also has tie-ups with international universities such as Masstricht University, Edinburgh University, and Liecester University in Europe and Flinders University and Queensland University in Australia for easier facilitation of students wishing to pursue their PhDs.

Fact file | Name of the Department: Division of Biotechnology
Courses: MSc in Medical Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, and Molecular Biology & Human Genetics, PhD in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, PG Diploma in Cellular Biology and Molecular Diagnostics
Coordinator: Prof K Satyamoorthy
Website: www.manipal.edu

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"Our emphasis on basic sciences is very good. Also the opportunity to work with senior researchers during the student's final year projects provides the students with the necessary hand holding and best training for the future."

Prof K Satyamoorthy head, division of biotechnology, Manipal Life Sciences Centre

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