M.Tech (Biotechnology) Syllabus

Course Structure for MTech in Biotechnology

BT 501 Biotechniques (3-0-0-6)

Pre-Requisites: Nil 

Chromatographic and other separation techniques: principles and applications of different chromatographic techniques, ultrafiltration, phase-partitioning, two dimensional gel electrophoresis; Spectroscopic techniques: principles and applications of UV-Visible spectroscopy, circular dichroism, fluorescence, mass, and infraredspectroscopy; Imaging Techniques and their applications: bright-field, dark-field and phase contrast microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy; Surface plasmon resonance; Flow cytometry. 

Text:
1.   C. R. Cantor and P. R. Schimmel, Biophysical Chemistry, Part II: Techniques for the Study of Biological Structure and Function, W. H. Freeman and Co., 1980.
2.   J.C Janson and L. Ryd?n. Protein Purification: Principles, High-Resolution Methods, and Applications, Wiley-VCH, 1998.
3.   M. Spencer, Fundamentals of Light Microscopy, Cambridge University Press, Oxford, 1982. 

References:
1.   K. E. van Holde, W. C. Johnson and P. S. Ho, Principles of Physical Biochemistry, Prentice Hall,  1998.
2.   R. D. Goldman and D. L. Spector (Eds.), Live Cell Imaging: A laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor  Laboratory Press, New York, 2005.
3.   I. A. Kaltashov and S. J. Eyles, Mass Spectrometry in Biophysics: Conformation and Dynamics of Molecules, Wiley-Interscience, New Jersey, 2005.

BT 503 Genetic Engineering (3-0-0-6)
Pre-Requisites: Nil 

Principles of recombinant DNA technology and its applications: identification, isolation, amplification and cloning of genes; High throughput analysis of genome and proteome; Recombinant protein expression systems: design of different expression systems in E.coli, yeast, fungi, plant and mammalian cells; Transgenic plants, animals and their applications; Molecular therapeutics: Gene probes and DNA fingerprinting for diagnosis, identification of biomarkers, gene silencing using antisense and siRNA technology, gene therapy systems, application of stem cells in therapy, recombinant vaccines and antibodies. 

Texts:
1.     B. R. Glick and J. J. Pasternak, Molecular Biotechnology: Principles and Applications of Recombinant DNA, ASM Press; 3^rd Edition, 2003
2.     S. Primrose, R. Twyman, B. Old, and G. Bertola, Principles of Gene Manipulation and Genomics, Blackwell Publishing Limited; 7^th Edition, 2006
3.     A. Slater, N. W. Scott and M. R. Fowler, Plant Biotechnology: The Genetic Manipulation of Plants, Oxford University  Press, 2003.

References:
1.    B. Alberts, A. Johnson, J. Lewis, M. Raff, K and R. P. Walter, Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4^th Edition, Garland, 2002
2.    J. Hammond, P. McGarvey and V. Yusibov, Plant Biotechnology: New Products and Applications, Springer, 1999.

BT 502 Quantitative Biology (3-0-2-8)

Pre-Requisites: Nil 

Probability and probability distributions; Descriptive statistics: mean, variance and sums of squares; Clustering and classification of data; Test of hypotheses: t-test, z-test; Chi-square test of independence; ANOVA: various types of classification; Regression analysis: linear, multiple and nonlinear; Biological databases; Pair wise and multiple sequence alignments; Identification of conserved domains and motifs; Homology modeling of proteins; Laboratory components: GenBank database; Protein data bank; Homology Search tools; Homology Modeling; Molecular viewers. 

Texts:
1.    W. W. Daniel, Biostatistics: A Foundation for Analysis in the Health Sciences, Wiley-VCH, 8^th Edition, 2004.
2.    B. Bergeron, Bioinformatics Computing: The Complete Practical Guide to Bioinformatics for Life Scientists, Prentice  Hall, 2002. 

References:
1.    S. A. Glantz, Primer of Biostatistics, McGraw-Hill Medical, 6th edition, 2005.
2.    C. Gibas, and P. Jambeck, Developing Bioinformatics Computer Skills, O'Reilly Media Inc., 2001.
 

BT 504 Biomolecular and Cellular Process Engineering (3-0-0-6)

Overview of fermentation: fermentor operations, fermentation products, Transport phenomena in bioreactors; Principles, design and operation of bioreactors: specific design criteria for mammalian, plant and microbial systems; Strategies for fermentation with recombinant organisms; Anaerobic fermentations; Isolation, characterization and production of secondary metabolites from different cell types of plants; Bioprocess monitoring and control: current practices in the bioprocess industries, advanced methodologies; Overview of downstream processing: centrifugation, filtration and chromatographic techniques.  

Texts:
1.    M. L Shuler and F. Kargi., Bioprocess Engineering, Prentice Hall Inc., 2002.
2.    P.M. Doran, Bioprocess Engineering Principles, Elsevier, 1995.
3.    P. B. Kaufman, L. J. Cseke, S. Warler, J. A. Duke, and H. L. Brielmann, Natural Products from Plants, CRC Press LLC, 1999.
References:
1.    H. J. Rehm  and G. Reed,  Biotechnology-A multi- Volume Comprehensive Treatise, 2^nd Ed, Vol 3, Wiley-VCH, 1993
2.    M. Moo-Young, Comprehensive Biotechnology, Vol. 2, Pergamon Press, 2004.
3.    F. Dicosmo and M. Missawa, Plant Cell Culture Secondary Metabolism: Towards Industrial Application. CRC LLC, 1996.

Laboratory courses:
BT 510 Analytical Biotechnology Lab (0-0-6-6)

UV Spectroscopy: Recording ultraviolet absorption spectra for DNA and quantification of DNA; Visible spectroscopy: Protein estimation by Bradford reagent; Fluorescence Spectroscopy: monitor equilibrium unfolding of a protein from the fluorescence of tryptophan; Chromatography:  size exclusion chromatography of a crude mixture of proteins using standard matrix and dyes; Fluorescence Microscopy: viewing cells stained with fluorescent dyes; Ultracentrifugation: separation of cell organelles from plant or animal tissues; Demonstration experiments on HPLC, laser scanning confocal and scanning electron microscopy. 

Texts:
1.    A. J. Ninfa and D. P. Ballou, Fundamental Laboratory Approaches for Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Wiley; 2^nd
       Edition,1998.
2.    J. Sambrook and D. W. Russell, Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 3^rd Edition, 2001.

References:
1.    R.J. Simpson, Proteins and Proteomics: A Laboratory Manual, CSHL press, 2003

BT 520 Applied Biology and Bio-engineering Lab (0-0-6-6)
Aseptic microbial culture techniques, propagation of host E.coli strain and storage; Preparation of competent E. coli for transformation; Bioinformatics tools for sequence analysis, design of primers and identification of restriction sites within the transgene. Transformation of E. coli with recombinant plasmid, carrying the transgene; Isolation of recombinant plasmid and confirmation of clones by restriction analysis; Expression of the recombinant protein in bioreactor (fed batch mode): Determination of specific growth rate (in terms of Biomass) and expression profile of the recombinant protein (by SDS PAGE); Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation, direct DNA delivery and analysis of transgene using reporter gene assay.

Texts:
1.    J. Sambrook and D. W. Russell, Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 3^rd  Edition, 2001.
2.    H. J. Benson, Microbiological Applications. Laboratory Manual in General Microbiology, 8^th Edition, McGraw Hill,