Department of Biotechnology

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

Ph.D. Admission Brochure

[July 2024]
Webpage: https://biotech.iith.ac.in/
 Department of Biotechnology
Ph.D. Admission – July 2024

The Department of Biotechnology, established in 2010, offers

outstanding research programs in the frontier areas of Biotechnology
encompassing both applied and basic research spanning various
experimental and computational frontiers: NMR Spectroscopy, X-ray
Crystallography, Computational Biology, Circadian Biology and
Chronomedicine, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Cell Signaling: Calcium
signaling in Cancer, Xenotransplantation, Protein Misfolding Diseases,
Infectious Diseases, HIV Biology, Cancer Biology, Chromosome
Dynamics and Gene Regulation, DNA Repair, Molecular Mechanisms of
Diseases using Zebrafish Animal Model, Advanced Bioimaging,
Neuroscience, RNA Biology, Genomics and Epitranscriptomics,
Proteomics, Drug Design, Computational genomics, Membrane
Biophysics, Biomolecular Simulations, Computational Virology and
Enzyme Engineering, Bioprocess Technology, Biofuels and
Biochemicals, Waste Valorization and Circular Economy, Microbial
genomics and evolution, Plant Genomics, Plant metagenomics, Plant-
microbe interactions, Systems biology, Biological networks, Machine
learning, Metabolism and Transcriptional regulation. Research activities
in the department are funded by national agencies such as DBT, DST,
ICMR, CSIR, etc.
The mission of the Ph.D. program is to develop a new generation
of scientific leaders with scientific vigor, critical thinking, ethics, and
multitasking managerial skills to thrive in the fast-paced technology-
driven industry and academia. We foster innovations through cutting-
edge technologies and interdisciplinary research.
 Research Areas
Applications are invited from suitably qualified & motivated candidates for
admission to the Ph.D. program in the Department of Biotechnology, IITH, in
the following research areas:

Research Area Faculty

Molecular characterization of DNA alkylation damage repair
enzymes, Role of DNA alkylation in cancer, autoimmune and Dr. Anindya Roy
inflammatory diseases.

Human-Virus protein-protein interaction. Dr. N.K. Raghavendra

Exploring the molecular mechanisms of diseases by in vitro

and in silico approaches: Antimicrobial resistance,
neurodegenerative disorders, intrinsically disordered proteins Dr. Thenmalarchelvi
in human diseases with emphasis on cancer, small molecule Rathinavelan
ligand screening, microbial genomics & biomolecular
interaction prediction using machine learning
Protein phase separation and misfolding in
Neurodegeneration and Cancer; Intrinsically disordered
proteins; Role of chaperones and Oxidative stress in Dr. Basant K. Patel
proteinopathies; Drug-discovery for neurodegenerative
diseases.
Characterization of cancer drug targets, Epigenetics, and
DNA repair, Drug/inhibitor design, Vaccine design, X-ray Dr. Rajakumara
crystallography, Biophysics and biochemistry, Computational Eerappa
biology, phase separation and hydrogel design.
Investigating disease/toxicity mechanisms using in-vitro and Dr. Anamika
in-vivo models Bhargava

Cancer genomics and biomarker discovery, 3D cancer model

development, Drug resistance and repurposing, Long
Dr. Ashish Misra
noncoding RNAs, Alternative splicing and RNA metabolism
in cancer, Protein Engineering.
Circadian rhythm, cancer, mechanism of drug action, clinical
Dr. Sandipan Ray
proteomics, mass spectrometry.

Continued on next page…

 Research Areas
Applications are invited from suitably qualified & motivated candidates for
admission to the Ph.D. program in the Department of Biotechnology, IITH, in
the following research areas:

Research Area Faculty

Chromosome dynamics and genetic disorders, single-molecule
imaging, chromatin remodeling, cancer therapy target aurora
Dr. Gunjan Mehta
kinase B, cell division, gene regulation, advanced fluorescence
microscopy.
Computational genomics and transcriptomics, diagnostic and
prognostic biomarkers of cancer, epigenomics, drug discovery,
Dr. Rahul Kumar
MRI based radiogenomics, big data analytics in health/biology,
AI/ML based methods/tools development, digital medicine.
Biomolecular modeling and simulations, DNA Nanotechnology,
Dr. Himanshu
Nanoparticles interaction with biological matter, Lipid-DNA
Joshi
interaction, Computational biophysics, Computational Virology.
Biofuels, Biochemicals, Biomaterials, Nanobiotechnology,
Bioprocess technology, Downstream processing, Hydrothermal Dr. Althuri Avanthi
Liquefaction, Waste valorization and Circular economy.
Microbial genomics, Evolutionary biology, Microbial diversity,
Plant Genomics, Plant metagenomics, Microbiome, Plant-
Dr. Gaurav Sharma
microbe interactions, Computational biology, prediction
webservers.
Computational systems biology, Bioinformatics, Omics data-
driven statistical and mathematical models, Biological networks, Dr. Abhishek
Machine learning, Metabolism & Transcriptional regulation, Subramanian
Host-parasite interactions, Microbial community modeling
RNA structure and translational regulation, Role of RNA binding
proteins in neurological diseases, Drosophila models of human Dr. Indranil Malik
diseases.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Software
Development for Drug Discovery, Protein-Protein, Protein-
Dr. G. Narahari
Ligand Interactions, Chemoinformatics, Bioinformatics and
Sastry
Health Informatics, Computational Quantum Chemistry, Non-
covalent interactions.
 Minimum Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility
• MTech in any area of Life Sciences/Biotechnology/Physical Sciences
• MSc degree in any allied area of Life Sciences/Biotechnology, Physical or
Chemical Sciences and possessing a valid National level JRF qualification
(or) qualified GATE (need not be valid).
• BTech/BE in any allied area of Life Sciences/Biotechnology/Physical Sciences
(or) MBBS and qualified GATE (need not be valid) or with a valid National
level JRF qualification.
Candidates should also possess:
• General category: at least 63% marks in the highest qualifying degree
• OBC category: at least 62% marks in the highest qualifying degree
• SC/ST category: at least 60% marks in the highest qualifying degree
• For those who have not yet completed their qualifying examination, the
marks obtained up to the 3rd semester for M.Sc./M.Tech. and 7th semester
for B Tech/BE Students will be considered.

Category of admission
I. Full-time Institute Fellowship (funded by MoE): Any candidates with
MTech/MSc/BTech/MBBS degree can apply.
II. Fellowship from external funding agency: Candidates with valid CSIR-NET-
JRF/UGC-NET-JRF/ICMR-JRF/DBT-JRF/ (Category-I) award or any other
equivalent national level qualification for research fellowship (e.g., DST-
INSPIRE fellowship) can apply under this category.
III. Sponsored project: GATE/CSIR-NET-JRF/UGC-NET-JRF/
ICMR-JRF/DBT-JRF/DST-INSPIRE qualified candidates with
MTech/MSc/BTech/MBBS degree can apply.

Notes:
1) Ensure that you qualify for all eligibility criteria before applying. The
department reserves the right to set any cut-off criteria for shortlisting the
candidates.
 Selection Procedure

• Candidates will be shortlisted and called for an interview

according to the criteria set by a shortlisting committee.
• Selection to the Ph.D. program will be based on the performance
in the interview.
• Request to change the interview date/time will not be entertained.

Interested candidates can apply online through IIT Hyderabad's

website: http://www.iith.ac.in/phdadmissions/

For any further information, please contact by email:

phd_biotech@iith.ac.in

Note: The department has the right not to select any candidate if
appropriate candidates are not found.
 Career Prospects
Biomedical Research Teaching

Enterpreneurship and startup Science writers &

communicators
Agriculture, Pharmaceuticals AI/ML applications in Life
& Healthcare Industries Sciences

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