Doctor of Philosophy in Biotechnology

The Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology is doing high quality research in diverse areas at the forefronts of biology. Candidates are strongly encouraged to visit the webpage, https://sau.int/faculty-of-life-sciences-biotechnology-flsb/ to know the research areas of individual research group. FLSB has state of the art laboratories with all basic and high-end equipemnts. Selected PhD candidates will be provided the opportunity to do their research from anyone of the following areas in biotechnology: Applied and Industrial Biotechnology, Cancer Biology, Chemical Biology, Metabolic Bone Diseases, Molecular Medicine, Neuroscience, Plant Molecular Biology, Protein Engineering, RNA Biology and Virology.

Candidates must have completed a minimum of 17 years of formal education, i.e. 12 years of regular schooling followed by either a 3+2 year or a 4+1 year Bachelor’s and Master’s degree program in any branch of Biological Sciences (e.g., MSc, MVSc, MTech, MPharm) or hold an MD/MS from a government-recognized institution in any SAARC country. A minimum of 55% marks or an equivalent grade is required.

Candidates with 4-year Bachelor degree in the subject are also eligible for admission to PhD programme provided they have secured a minimum of 80% marks or equivalent grade.

Modes of Admission

Admission to various PhD programmes is offered through two modes:

1. SAU Entrance Test Mode:

• For Indian Candidates: Center-based online tests conducted by the University on stipulated dates.
• For other SAARC Candidates (excluding India): Proctored online tests on stipulated dates.

2. Direct Admission Mode (Without SAU Entrance Test):

• In India: Based on scores from national-level tests.
• In Other SAARC Countries: Based on national-level test scores or qualifying examination results from recognized institutions/boards.
• For Non-SAARC Candidates: Based on scores obtained in their qualifying examination (from recognized institutions).

Under the Entrance Test mode, the admission procedure for the PhD programme consists of an Entrance Test followed by an interview.
Under the Direct and Executive modes, candidates will be shortlisted and called directly for the interview.
For further details, please refer to the General Guidelines for the PhD Programmes.

• The computer based entrance test will be of 2 hours duration.
• There will be no negative marking.
• The question paper will consist of 100 multiple-choice questions out of which candidates will have to attempt 70.
• First 70 attempted questions will be evaluated.

Questions will be asked at MSc level from all the areas of Biological Sciences including Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Cancer Biology, Molecular Biology, Immunology, Animal Sciences, Parasitology, Plant Biotechnology, Genetics, Microbiology, Virology, Neurosciences, Biochemical Engineering, Biophysics and Biostatistics.