Integrated PhD
(Biological Sciences)
Course
Work
Core Courses: 25
credits
Course Credits
Course Title
DB 201 2:0
Mathematics and Statistics for Biologists
DB 202 2:0 General
Biology
DB 203 3:0
Microbiology
DB 204 2:0 Genetics
DB 205 3:0 General
Biochemistry
DB 206 2:0
Biophysical Chemistry
DB 207 0:5
Laboratory
DB 209 2:1
Evolutionary Biology
DB 211 3:0 Molecular
Biology
Projects: 20
Credits
DB 212 0:5 Project -
I
DB 225 0:6 Project -
II
DB 327 0:9 Project -
III
Elective Courses:
19 Credits
(For a total of 64
credits)
Note: Elective courses are to be selected from those offered
in the Division of Biological Sciences. Students may also select courses
offered in other Divisions of the Institute in consultation with their
advisor. 48 credits of course work have
to be completed within 3 terms.
DB 201 JAN 2:0
Mathematics and Statistics for Biologists
Functions, co-ordinate systems, complex algebra vectors matrices, determinants,
linear equations, series, limits, integrals. Derivative techniques of calculus
power series, trigonometric series. Frequency distributions: central tendency,
variability, correlation prediction and regression, statistical methods and
tests.
References?
DB 202 (AUG) 2:0
General Biology
Biology and natural sciences, growth of biological thought, matter and
life, origin of life, history of life on earth, bacterial and protists, fungi
and other primitive plants, seed bearing plants. Animals without back-bones,
insects, vertebrates, phylogeny and systematic. Mechanisms of evolution,
chemical basis of life, cellular basis of life. Selected topics in plant
physiology, selected topics in animal physiology, introduction to ecology, selected
topics in plant ecology, selected topics in animal ecology, population ecology,
community ecology, animal behavior, behavioral ecology and sociobiology,
biological diversity on earth. Loss of biological diversity in recent times,
conservation biology and the future of the biosphere.
Renee M Borges and Vidyanand Nanjundaiah
Murphy, M.P., and O’Neill, L.A.J. (eds), What is Life? The Next Fifty
Years: Speculations on the Future of Biology,
Sigmund K., Games of Life, Penguin Books, 1993.
Pluto’s Republic (incorporating The Art of The Soluble
and Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought), Oxford University Press.
DB 203/MC 203 (AUG) 3:0
Essentials in Microbiology
Fascinating world of microbes, principles of microscopy, microbial
taxonomy and diversity, evolution and genomics. Mechanisms of horizontal gene
transfer, microbes as model systems of development, microbes as bioreactors and
sensors, bioremediation. Bacterial cell structure and function, bacterial
physiology and nutrition. Bacteriophages, plasmids and transposons. Understanding
and combating bacterial pathogenesis, antibiotics, mechanisms of drug
resistance and mode of action, quorum sensing and biofilms. Diagnostics and
vaccine development. Humoral immunity, cell mediated immunity and host-pathogen
interactions.
K
Stanier, R.Y., Adelberg E.A., and Ingraham J.L., General Microbiology,
Macmillan Press, Fourth edn.
Westriech, G.A., and Lechmann M.D., Microbiology, Macmillan Press,
Fifth Edition
Microbiology: Fundamentals and Applications, Maxwell
Macmillan, Second Edition.
Goldsby, R.A., Kindt, T.J., Osborne, B.A., and Kuby, J., Immunology, W
H Freeman & Co,
DB 204/RD 201 (AUG) 2:0
Genetics
Transmission and distribution of genetic materials, dominance relations
and multiple alleles, gene interaction and lethality, sex linkage, material effects
and cytoplasmic heredity, cytogenetics and quantitative inheritance, elements
of population genetics.
Strickberger, M.W., Genetics.
Suzuki et al, An Introduction to Genetic Analysis.
DB 205 (AUG) 3:0
General Biochemistry
Biochemistry
of Carbohydrates and Lipids. Cell membrane: structure and function. Metabolism:
basic concepts and design, glycolysis and citric acid cycle, oxidative
phosphorylation, bioenergetics, fatty-acid metabolism, pentose phosphate
pathways and gluconeogenesis. Integration and regulation of metabolism.
Photosynthesis. Protein translation and regulation, cellular protein transport
and protein turnover. Biosynthesis and catabolism of amino acids and
nucleotides, signal transduction. DNA structure, replication, and repair,
transcription, regulation of gene
expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Recombinant DNA technology.
Patrick D’Silva, Sathees Raghavan, N Ganesh and D
Stryer, L., Biochemistry, Fourth Edn, W H Freeman and Company, 1995.
David L. Nelson and Michael M. Cox., Lehninger Principles of
Biochemistry, Third Edition, Worth Publishers, 2000.
DB 206 (AUG) 2:0
Introduction to Biophysical Chemistry
Basic thermodynamics, ligand binding and co-operativity in biological
systems, kinetics, principles of diffusion, sedimentation. Introduction to
absorption, fluorescence, CD and non spectroscopy. Elementary statistical
thermodynamics.
Raghavan Varadarajan
Von Holde, K.E., Physical Biochemistry, Prentice Hall,
Cantor, C.R., and Schimmel, P.R., Biophysical Chemistry, Vol. 1-III, W
H Freeman and
DB 207 (AUG) 0:5
Laboratory
Units and calculations used in the laboratory, measurements of pH,
buffers, precautions in the use of radioactive materials, principles and
operation of instruments used in biochemical research, spectro-photometers,
centrifuges, scintillation counters, protein estimation.
Preparation of bacteriological media, sterilization growth and
characterization of bacteria and bacteriophages, chromosomal and plasmid DNA preparation
and analysis. Physical methods in biology, introduction to UV spectroscopy, CD
spectroscopy and electrophoresis, protein and nucleic acid model building. Methods
of animal behavior, biological diversity. Physiochemical properties of soil.
Faculty
DB 209/EC 204 (JAN) 2:1
Evolutionary Biology
History of evolutionary ideas, natural selection, units of selection,
adaptation, speciation, population genetics, drift and the neutral theory,
sexual selection and the evolution of sex, molecular phylogenetics, molecular evolution,
estimating nucleotide substitutions, homologous sequences, gene trees vs.
species trees, Darwinian selection at the molecular level, gene families.
Praveen Karanth
Futuyma, D.J., Evolutionary Biology, Third Edn, Sinauer Associates,
Inc., 1998.
Dawkins, R., The Blind Watchmaker, W W Norton & Co., 1986.
Maynard Smith, J., The Theory of Evolution,
Masatoshi Nei and Sudhir Kumar, Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics,
Dan Graur and Wen-Hsiung Li, Fundamentals of Molecular Evolution,
Sinauer Associates, Inc., 1991.
DB 211/MC 207 (AUG) 3:0
Molecular Biology
DNA structure, gene structure and organization, topological
inter-conversions, DNA replication in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, chromatin
structure and function, transcription, translation and regulation of gene expression
in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, RNA splicing, DNA-protein and RNA-protein
interactions, catalytic RNAs, RNA interference, editing and processing. DNA
repair and recombination, DNA methylation and its significance.
Parag Sadhale, V Nagaraja and Umesh Varshney
DB 212 (JAN) 0:5
Project – I
Faculty
DB 225 (AUG) 0:6
Project – II
An independent research project to be conducted in the laboratory of a
faculty member in the Division of Biology, preferably in the laboratory where
the PhD research will be carried out. Students will have to make a presentation, providing
an overview of earlier information available in their research area, and
present the proposed objectives and preliminary experiments that have been
carried out.
Faculty
DB 327 (JAN) 0:9
Project- III
An independent research project to be conducted in the laboratory of a
faculty member in the Division of Biology. It is desirable that the project be
carried out in the laboratory where Project II was conducted.
Faculty