Introduction

Welcome to the Department of Biological Sciences. 

The Department of Biological Sciences at IISER Berhampur is a developing unit committed to achieving excellence in research and education in different fields of Biological Sciences. The department has slowly grown to a sizable unit with 11 faculty members leading their respective research groups. More than 35 PhD students are enrolled in the Department. The first few students have now graduated with PhD degrees.

The department is currently involved in research in various areas of Biological Sciences including, Evolutionary Biology and Behavioral Ecology, Fungal Molecular Genetics, Plant Developmental Biology, Stem Cell Biology, RNP Biology, Structural Biology, Cellular Metabolism, Immunology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Transposon Biology, Metabolomics, Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics. As the areas suggest, we aim to span the entire breadth of Biological Sciences. The department is still in its formative phase. Hence, the range of research areas is only going to become wider.

The research division is functioning in the Transit campus at the city of Berhampur. Most of the teaching happens in the main campus of IISER Berhampur. Apart from the faculty and students, a number of Scientific officer, laboratory staff, office assistants, and a few post-doctoral fellows form the Department of Biological Sciences community. Most of our students are fairly active, and take part in many club and extracurricular activities. We are always looking for professionals to come to the department and share their research with us. The department is a work in progress, but in the last few years we have been able to develop a good academic culture, which is only going to continue to become stronger.

Academic Programmes

BSMS programme:

The BSMS programme of IISER Berhampur is similar to BSMS programme in other IISERs. This includes two years of Core courses (covering all subjects of science and Mathematics), two years of Major, and a final year dissertation. Our Biology (Major) programme is well-designed and balanced. The philosophy of the programme is an overall training in the fundamentals of Biological Sciences. The courses cover Molecules - cells - tissues and organs - Ecosystem - Evolution, essentially all levels of Biological organisation and processes.

We have a new campus, with excellent residential facilities, including all sports and extracurricular activities. In our upcoming new academic building, we will have state-of-the-art facilities for all Biological Sciences labs. Our teaching infrastructure is modern, and our teachers are committed to excellence in teaching.

Integrated PhD programme:

The Integrated PhD programme combines a Masters and a Doctoral degree into a seven-year programme. Students can join this programme following their Bachelors degree. This programme combines these two degrees in an effective manner such that entry into the Doctoral phase is more focused, and in effect time saving. All Integrated PhD students are entitled for fellowship for all seven years of the programme. For eligibility and other details, please visit the institute website.

PhD programme:

Candidates seeking admission to the PhD programme can visit the admission page. The application is open twice every year - once for August semester, and once for the January semester. For eligibility and other details, please visit the institute website. Briefly, PhD programme is a structured five-year programme. The students have to clear course work and opt for a faculty member from within the department to start a PhD dissertation. All selected candidates receive fellowship through the institute or external funding agencies. The programme allows rotation with different faculty members, but also supports students who are more decided on their choice of research area.

Research Themes

Evolutionary Biology and Behavioural Ecology group: The group aims at understanding the mechanism of evolution of adaptive and non-adaptive characters in organisms. By employing phenotypic manipulation experiments, primarily using laboratory fruit fly populations, his group investigates phenotype - fitness correlations. The group then employs Experimental Evolution to investigate the evolution of these phenotypes in experimental populations in real-time. Rate of ageing, stress resistance, reproductive and fertility-related traits, sexually selected traits are among many phenotypes the group is currently interested in. More details can be found here.

Stem cell Biology group: Stem/Progenitor Cells are characterized by their ability to self renew and to be differentiated into distinct functional cell types. This is regulated by a plethora of mechanisms ranging from transcriptional to signalling pathways. The post transcriptional repertoire however, is still not well understood. Dr. Bharathavikru’s group is trying to elucidate the various RNA regulated processing events during the process of nephrogenesis. Nephrogenesis or Kidney Development is a highly coordinated event involving an interplay of transcription factors such as WT1, Six2 and signalling cascades including the Wnt pathway. The group is involved in identifying the Systems Biology of RNA-protein networks in nephrogenesis through in vitro and in vivo interaction studies, followed by bioinformatic studies to prioritize these networks. These are then functionally characterized using cellular and biochemical tools in primary and stem/progenitor cell models. More details of the research of the group can be found here.

Plant Developmental Biology group: We depend on plants for food, medicine, clothing, fuel, clean air- pretty much everything and it’s safe to say- without them there would be no life on earth! Today like the rest of the world, plants are facing a multitude of challenges critically impinging their productivity and very survival. Broad-based and innovative studies of plant biology are of fundamental significance in addressing these issues. These can also guide in our pursuit for developing climate resilient crop plant varieties and sustainable agriculture. More details of the plant biology program can be found here.

Comparative Evolutionary Genomics group: Research in Dr. Krishnan's group focuses on comparative and evolutionary genomics approaches to reconstruct major evolutionary scenarios and trends that shaped the evolution of uniquely eukaryotic and animal systems. To mention a few, the group is interested in the expansion of 1) chemosensation in early-branching metazoans and other basal invertebrate animals; 2) molecular armaments that diversified post vertebrate genome doubling events to combat vertebrate viruses. Using our computer-aided approaches, we also aim to investigate untapped GPCRs to extend the prospects of the druggable human genome. In broad-spectrum, we employ genome and proteome scale datasets to reconstruct the evolution of various gene families, functional categories and divergence, intraspecific and inter-specific variations, and evolutionary processes that underpin the diversity of our protein families of interest.

Cellular Metabolism group: The group is interested in understanding the metabolic organization and its regulation of cellular processes like growth, proliferation and differentiation.While the role of thermodynamic and kinetic principles in organizing and driving metabolic reactions are understood, the specific interplay of metabolites and enzymes in modulating signaling and gene transcription is now coming to the fore. During embryonic development and in metabolic diseases such as cancer, cellular fates like cell proliferation and differentiation are associated with specific metabolic states. Using a combination of functional genomics with advanced mass spectrometry, imaging and computational modelling, we aim to understand the metabolic cross-talk with signaling and gene transcription networks in development and disease.

This page will be populated by more details soon.