The Department of Biotechnology, established in the year 2000 through support from the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, has developed as an important academic center of Uttaranchal state. At present activities of the department are focused on quality teaching programme at M.Sc. level including the execution of research programmes in selected areas.
Biotechnology is an emerging discipline with far reaching consequences for human civilization. This discipline has potential for applications in the area of human and animal health, food and nutrition, agricultural and animal sciences, environmental science and many other similar areas. The discipline is fast growing hence there is an urgent need for well trained human resource. With the support of DBT, Govt. of India a number of institutions has been encouraged to start postgraduate programme in this discipline. Like many other universities this Department is also admitting students through All India Combined Entrance Examination conducted by JNU New Delhi.
The beginning was made in the erstwhile Department of Zoology in the D.S.B. Campus of this University. Department was shifted in 2002 to a new venue- Sleepy Hollow. A number of laboratories and classrooms for teaching and other facilities were created by partitioning a portion of the ground floor of the Central Library Building. The space is however limited at this venue. Efforts are being made to shift the department to a more spacious venue soon.Construction work of the building has been almost completed at Bhimtal campus with an initaial support of Rs.3 crore from state govt. Department of Biotechnology, Kumaun university is ranked amongest Top 20 Public Biotech Schools by Biospectrum Biotech School Survey 2008 (vol. 6, issue 1, January 2008 ).
COURSES in Department of Biotechnology
Master's Programme : Students admitted to the 2-year (4 semester programme) are eligible for the award of M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology on successful completion of the course. Department of Biotechnology, Kumaun University is a university campus. Department offers Master Degree and Doctor of Philosophy courses in the field of Biotechnology. Bioinformatics is a multidisciplinary subject and therefore the researcher and students are to be trained continuously to upgrade their knowledge and skills in this area.
Research Programme : Department has also initiated Ph.D programme mainly in the areas of Microbial Biotechnology, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Tissue Culture & Molecular Biology.
The Biotechnology Information System Network (BTISnet) of the Department Of Biotechnology is making all of it's efforts towards the effective utilization of various application of bioinformatics and computational biology for accelerating biology and biotechnology R&D and Teaching activities. BTISnet is functional from the year 1986-87 and the network is covering 143 institution spread geographically all over the country.This also include 76 Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facilities for Biology Teaching through Bioinformatics (BTBI).
Bioinformatics centre at Kumaun University, Nainital is also one of them. A super computer facility for bioinformatics and computational Biology is also part of BTISnet. Over 40000 researchers and scholars are regularly interacting with BTISnet centres seeking various applications of Bioinformatics. Quality research publications are growing from India both in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics with the support of BTISnet.
Facilities in Department of Biotechnology in KU
- Infrastructure Overview: The department have a number of laboratories and classrooms for teaching and other facilities were created by partitioning a portion of the ground floor of the Central Library Building.
- Laboratory:All the laboratories are well equipped with latest instruments.
- Classrooms: The department have well equipped classrooms with all modern facilities.
- Library:The department has spacious library with a vast collection of books and journals.
