Aims and
Objectives
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To establish high-class globally
recognized research, education training institute on the campus of
University of Pune, in the interdisciplinary area of Bioinformatics and
Biotechnology.
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To design, offer and conduct new post
graduate and diploma courses, so as to integrate the above discipline
with other programmes on the campus.
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To establish and pursue vibrant and
vigorous research programmes in the areas of Genomics, Proteomics and
Biomaterials, so as to move towards a generation of quality Ph.D.
programmes and also cutting-edge technologies.
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To develop relationships with the related
industries, at local as well as national levels for manpower
development, training and contract research levels.
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To create and manage the intellectual
property, in Bioinformatics and Biotechnology.
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To undertake and execute sponsored
research programmes and consultancies to generate resources.
Mandate
The Institute of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology (IBB) was established
in the University of Pune, in 2002, under the
UGC programme, ‘University with Potential for Excellence’ (UPE). The vision
of Professor Ashok S. Kolaskar, who was the Vice Chancellor of the
University during this period, was instrumental in the establishment of IBB.
Professor Dileep N. Deobagkar, one of the senior-most academicians in the
University of Pune and a leading Biotechnologist, was entrusted with the
responsibility of spearheading this new Institute, as the founder Director.
The vision, mandate and the objectives of IBB were defined under his
leadership. Various research programs and two Masters level degree programs
were started in the initial phases that are affiliated to the prestigious
University of Pune.
Situated in the buzzing campus of the University, IBB is shaping up into a
“happening place”. IBB has been given
a mandate with three major activities in the areas of Bioinformatics and
Biotechnology:
An international advisory board comprising of
leading scientists and technocrats from all around the world has been
guiding IBB in all its endeavors.
The main focus areas that have been identified for research are diabetes,
malaria, liver cancer, viral diseases and herbal drug development. Research
projects in some of these areas as well as other areas such as bio-nanomaterials,
biomaterials (hydrophobins), environmental microbiology, marine
biotechnology and structural bioinformatics have been initialized in
collaboration with various groups at different departments on the campus.
These projects are funded by various national funding agencies such as DBT,
DST, CSIR, UGC, ICMR and ISRO. The faculty members at IBB are actively
involved in getting independent research grants and in undertaking
collaborative projects.
In its pursuit of human resource development, IBB has launched two
courses at Masters’ level:
These courses are unique in terms of the
course design, contents and implementation. They have been very well
received by the student community as evident from the rising number of
applications that are received at IBB for the entrance examinations every
year. The M. Sc./M. Tech. Biotechnology course is conducted on the
University of Pune campus while the M. Sc. Virology course is conducted in
collaboration with the National Institute of Virology (NIV),
Pune at their campus.
Biotechnology and Bioinformatics are highly multidisciplinary sciences. The
in-house faculty at IBB includes highly qualified teachers with expertise in
various areas such as biological sciences, chemical sciences, computational
physics, bioinformatics etc. A large number of qualified teachers and
scientists from several other institutes are also invited to contribute to
the teaching program.
Setting up an infrastructure that would be useful for research as well as
training is a integral part of IBB’s mandate. Several departments on the
campus of the University as well as some of the educational establishments
at Pune have generously been sharing their existing infrastructure with IBB
in its initial phase. Simultaneously, IBB is setting up its own independent
building and related facilities, the operations of which would commence very
soon. Infrastructure facilities such as hostel, lecture hall complex, fiber
optics connectivity as well as equipment and laboratory facilities are being
created.
Building and Premises
An independent premises for IBB will be functional in the near future which
has a total area of 30,000 sq. ft. and will house the classrooms, research
and M. Sc. laboratories, library, faculty rooms, administrative offices,
store rooms etc.
IBB has been sharing the classrooms and laboratories with various
departments on the campus such as the Bioinformatics Centre, Department of
Microbiology, Department of Zoology, Department of Chemistry, Department of
Botany etc. It has also been utilizing the laboratories of the Department of
Physics & Department of Chemistry at the Fergusson College, Pune.
