Career Opportunities in Biotechnology

Every living thing carries a genetic code, or “blueprint”, that determines precisely what traits it will have. Biotechnology is a science that enables us to find the beneficial traits, in terms of added nutrition, increased flavour, or greater ability to fight pests or diseases, and incorporate them into various organisms. Biotechnology is able to isolate a particular gene (or trait) in one organism, remove it, and then transfer it to another organism, where this same gene replicates itself, creating a stronger and more resilient strain of the same substance.

Biotechnology is one of the most emerging carrier. There were tremendous improvements in output from the biology section in the past one decade. The surfacing of new technologies also contributed a lot. The developments in full genome sequencing project under takings, comprising human genome, have resulted in engendering very large data.

Molecular Biologist: Functions in the area of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is the application of knowledge obtained from genetics to alter the reproduction and hereditary processes of organisms. It involves cloning, in-vitro fertilization, species hybridization or direct manipulation of the genetic material itself by the recombinant DNA technique.

Plant Tissue Culture Specialist: Functions in the area of in-vitro regeneration and propagation of plantlets. A Tissue Culture specialist may also be involved in plant germplasm conservation.

Plant Geneticist: Works to improve plants by developing new cultivars (horticultural varieties). This area of study involves hybridization, which is the crossing of two different breeds to produce a strain that combined the best aspects of both parents, but is usually more vigorous and disease resistant.

Nature of Work:

The nature of work of biotechnologists, being interdisciplinary, requires working together with people from different fields such as biology, chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, immunology, genetics, engineering, food science, agriculture etc.

Professional Courses:

Candidates having background in science at the intermediate level can take up a B.Tech. Program in Biotechnology.

Post Graduate courses available are M.Sc. Biotechnology, M.Sc. (Agriculture) Biotechnology, M.V.Sc. (Animal) Biotechnology, and M.Tech. Biotechnology, M.Sc./M.V.Sc. in Veterinary Biotechnology, M.Sc. (Marine) Biotechnology, Medical Biotechnology, M.Tech. in Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology.

Depending upon the aptitude and necessity, more advanced courses such as PH.D. and Post-Doctoral Research in Biotechnology can also be pursued.

Specialization:

Being an interdisciplinary subject with diverse areas of study, biotechnological procedures apply themselves to a wide range of fields allowing students from different backgrounds and interests to specialize in fields of their choice.

Some of the fields of specialization are:

Molecular Biology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, Physiology, Biochemistry, Horticulture, Biophysics, Tissue Culture, Botany, Agricultural Engineering, Zoology, Animal Sciences, Dairy Technology, Fisheries, Medicine, Life Sciences, and Genetics.

Career Prospects:

Qualified biotechnologists are employed in leading Business Houses and pharmaceutical companies, chemical industries, bioprocessing industries, agriculture related industries and pollution control activities of the major industries etc. They can even join government and corporate-run research and development organizations