Introduction

The Department of Biochemistry was set up when the Institute was established as a center of national importance for teaching, research and patient care in 1956 by an Act of Parliament. The department is globally recognized for its quality of teaching (undergraduate, postgraduate), medical research, patient care, and training. We conduct lectures and practical exercises for the under (MBBS)- and post (MD)-graduate medical, basic and applied courses (M.Sc., M. Biotechnology) as well as undergraduate Nursing (B.Sc.) classes. In undergraduate teaching we employ innovative teaching techniques such as Problem Based Learning. The postgraduate (M.D., M.Sc.) and doctoral (Ph.D.) candidates undertake their thesis work under the supervision of the faculty. A recent development is the conduct of practical classes for the D.M. program (Medical genetics). Our department is located on the third floor of the Old teaching block and the fourth floor of the Convergence block. Our laboratories (UG, PG) are well equipped and can accommodate several students simultaneously. We have several central/shared instrumentation rooms which the faculty, residents and students utilize for research, teaching and training activities. Presentations, are regularly held in the demonstration- and seminar-rooms.

DEPARTMENT STRENGTH

S. No.	Group	Strength
1.	Faculty	16
2.	Staff	23
3.	Scientists	NA
4.	Senior Residents	10
5.	Enrolled students (M.D., M.Sc.) and research scholars (Ph.D.)	59
6.	Pre-and postdoctoral research scholars (associates, assistants, fellows)	NA

 

RESEARCH FUNDING

Our faculty are well trained and have worked in research laboratories (national, international) of repute. Our faculty are engaged extensively in research related to basic, clinical and translational biomedical research. The funding for research is obtained from intra- and extra-mural research grants and is drawn from national (Department of Biotechnology, DBT; Wellcome-DBT India Alliance, Indian Council of Medical Research, ICMR; Department of Science and Technology, DST; Defence Research and Development Organization, DRDO; Ayush; Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, MEiTY) and international (National Institutes of Health, NIH) funding agencies. Our faculty actively participates in mentoring undergraduates (ICMR-Short term studentship, AIIMS undergraduate mentorship program, KVPY). Undergraduate students are also actively encouraged to join the faculty as part of their summer fellowship.

RESEARCH

The research work of the faculty is diverse and includes classical Biochemistry in association with “omics’-based protocols and analytics. A detailed introduction to each faculty member’s research work and laboratory is available at their individual URLs. A generic classification of the current faculty includes biochemical and immunological alterations during cancer progression (Kunzang Chosdol, Subhradip Karmakar, Jayanth Kumar, Ashok Sharma, Riyaz Mir, Pramod Gautam), infection, inflammation and immunological mechanisms (Alpana Sharma, Kalpana Luthra, Archana Singh, Ashok Sharma, Pragyan Acharya), nanoparticles and drug-delivery systems (Parthaprasad Chattopadhyay), metabolic and nutritional basis of obesity (Archna Singh, Rakhee Yadav), stem cell biology (Sudip Sen), mathematical and computational analysis of biochemical systems (Siddhartha Kundu). Faculty members are encouraged to participate in collaborative work.

The department has initiated a Guest Lecture Series wherein external faculty members who have made significant contribution(s) to their research domains are invited to present and discuss their work with faculty members, students and research fellows. The presentations are meant to be informal, interactive and informative and the speakers are encouraged to share their scientific journey with the attendees. Several prominent scientists such as Sivaprakash Ramalingam (IGIB, New Delhi), Pawan Dhar (JNU, New Delhi), Arpan Banerjee (NBRC, New Delhi), Soumen Basak (NII, New Delhi), Sheetal Gandotra (IGIB, New Delhi), Sujatha Sunil (ICGEB, New Delhi), Rama Akondy (Ashoka University, New Delhi), Raviraj Venkalaya (IIT, Jodhpur), Bushra Ateeq (IIT Kanpur), Manidipa Banerjee (IIT Delhi) have already done so. Our students and faculty have also benefitted from interactions with speakers such as Prof. Anil K Bamezai (Villanova University, USA), Drs.Vijay Reddy Peddareddigari, Imran Khan (Bristol Myers Squibb) and Vivek TN (IGIB, New Delhi).

CURRICULUM

The curricula is vibrant with regular opportunities for students to interact with faculty and other members. These include journal club presentations and seminars. Newly enrolled students (M.D., M.Sc.) undergo a departmental rotation with all faculty members. They are then required to join a faculty under whose supervision they will work on a research problem, present their protocol and submit their dissertation. Several new modules have been introduced for the newly enrolled students. These include microteaching (innovative teaching methods, problem-based learning), an introduction to “R”-driven data analytics and soft-skill training. Additionally, the students are examined for their proficiency in general Biochemistry through regular assessments. The Ph.D. program, includes course work which is spread over two semesters. This is composed of didactic classes and includes generalized and specialized Biochemistry, biomedical waste management, ethics, and Biostatistics. Practical training via hands-on laboratory work is practiced. This is aimed at orienting and equipping the scholars with the knowledge and means to undertake full-time research work. The scholars are issued a completion certificate at the end of this.