Rank 1 - Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
School of Biotechnology
High on industry interaction
JNU’s school of biotechnology aims to generate a quality workforce to meet the country’s demands and has made untiring efforts to that end. Here is what makes it the No.1 public biotech institute in India.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, was one of the first six universities in India to initiate a postgraduate teaching and research program in biotechnology in 1985, when a special Center for Biotechnology (CBT) under the joint sponsorship of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, was set up. The center was started to initiate biotechnology education program and was elevated to that of a school of biotechnology (SBT) in 2006. The school offers MSc and PhD in biotechnology. Students are admitted to the MSc program on the basis of an all India entrance examination conducted by JNU on behalf of 29 universities (where MSc in biotechnology program is supported by DBT) of the country. The program is supported by DBT and the total intake of students is 27. In addition to the theory courses, the program places emphasis on practical training. The MSc students undertake a two-semester research project work to orient themselves towards research in diverse areas of biotechnology. The PhD program has on its rolls 40 students. There are currently 11 faculty members in the school of biotechnology.
The faculty members have continuously been able to attract extramural funding from different scientific agencies and biotechnology industries for running various research projects. The school has state-of-the-art instrumentation facilities including a central instrumentation facility, recombinant product development facility of GLP standard, spectroscopic facility, microcalorimetric facility, microscopic facility, protein production and purification facility and biosafety level 3 facility.
The recombinant product development facility of GLP standards  was set up (RPDF-GLP) under the FIST support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and it has the flexibility to be used for the production of both recombinant products as well as the purification and characterization of non-recombinant products. The biosafety level 3 laboratory is being constructed with the financial support provided by the DBT. The laboratory will be used for research involving manipulation of biological infectious agents, both indigenous or exotic, which may cause serious or potentially lethal disease as a result of exposure to the inhalation route, with special emphasis on bacillus anthracis.
The school of biotechnology holds the privilege of being the first university department of biotechnology to have transferred several technologies in the area of biotechnology, which are at advanced stages of commercialization with many more in the pipeline.