Bachelor of Science (Research) • Major

Biology

Basic Structure

The curriculum for the Biology major is rigorously designed to provide a comprehensive scientific foundation. Building on the core coursework of the first three semesters, the program transitions into specialized advanced topics and research opportunities. All students are required to complete a minimum of 131 credits to qualify for the Bachelor of Science (Research) degree.

Basic Course (Sem 1-3)	Engineering (Sem 2-3)	Humanities (Sem 1-6)	Major and Project	Minor (Optional)	Electives (Assortment Courses)	Total
40	6	9	51	15	10 - 25	131
				25*		131

NOTE:

*Students not opting for a minor should fulfil 25 credits of assortment courses.
To be eligible for a minor, a student should fulfil 15 credits from the minor pool.
Excess credit(s) from any pool will be counted towards assortment credits.

Semester-wise Course Requirements

To view the common shared curriculum (Semesters 1-3), please click here.

Course Code	Course Name	Instructor	Credits
		Nikhil Gandasi, Naresh Loudya	2:0
		Shantanu Shukla, Mahipal Ganji	0:2
		Somnath Dutta, Mahavir Singh	2:0
	Humanities **/	-	11-15
Reduced Load			15-17
Enhanced Load			15-21

For more detailed information, please refer to the Student Handbook.

Note:

Humanities:

A. Humanities courses cannot be dropped in both semesters IV and V.

B. Students must complete 9 credits in humanities pool by the end of six semester.

Recommended Course Load

Semester	Criteria	Credits
I	Student needs to register for a fixed number of credits	18
II	No CGPA and TGPA requirements	Min.: 17 and Max.: 21
III	No CGPA and TGPA requirements	Min.: 17 and Max.: 21
IV	CGPA < 8.0	Min.: 15 and Max.: 17
IV	CGPA ≥ 8.0	Min.: 15 and Max.: 21
V to VIII	CGPA < 8.0 or Preceding term TGPA < 8.0	Min.: 16 and Max.: 18
V to VIII	CGPA ≥ 8.0 or Preceding term TGPA ≥ 8.0	Min.: 16 and Max.: 21

Suggested Core Electives:

Below is the list of suggested electives. In addition to the electives listed below, courses offered by the Biological Sciences departments i.e; Biochemistry (BC) / Microbiology and Cell Biology (MCB) / Centre for Neuroscience (CNS) / Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) / Molecular Biophysics Unit (MBU) / Developmental Biology and Genetics (DBG), Course offered for Integrated PhD by Biological Science Division -DB & LS Course codes & Department of Bioengineering (formally BSSE) will be considered towards Biology Major and Minor electives.

Note:

January–April Semester: Select courses offered in the January intake. These courses are designed for students beginning their studies at the start of the year.

August–December Semester: Select courses offered in the August intake, suitable for students starting in the second half of the year.

Course Code	Title	Credits
BC 201	Cell Biology	2:0
BC 202	Proteins: Structure and Function	2:0
BC 203	General Biochemistry	3:0
BC 204	Advances in Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology	2:0
BC 205	Fundamentals of Physiology and Medicine	2:0
BC 206	Essentials in Immunology	2:0
BC 207	Proteomics in Practice	2:0
BC 209	Dessertation Project	2:0
BC 210	Molecular Basis of Ageing and Regeneration	3:0
BC 302	Current Trends in Drug Discovery	3:0
BC 303	Single-Molecule Approaches in Biology	2:0
BC 306	Essentials in Immunology	3:0
BE 201	Introduction to Biometerials	3:0
BE 202	Thermodynamics and Transport in Biological Systems	3:0
BE 203	Bioengineering Practicum 1	0:1
BE 204	Bioengineering Practicum 2	0:1
BE 206	Biology for Engineers	3:0
BE 207	Mathematical Methods for Bioengineers	3:0
BE 209	Digital Epidemiology	1:0
BE 210	Drug Delivery: Principles and Applications	3:0
BE 211	Cell Mechanics	3:0
BE 212	Research Communication	1:0
BE 213	Fundamentals of Bioengineering 1	2:0
BE 214	Fundamentals of Bioengineering 2	2:0
BE 215	Chemistry for Bioengineers	3:0
BE 216	Dynamical Systems Biology	3:0
BE 217	Introduction to Disease Modeling	3:0
BE 218	Computational Epidemiology	3:1
BE 219	Essentials of Research and Innovation	2:0
BE 220	Industry Seminar	2:0
BE 221	Introduction to Data Science for Bioengineers	3:0
BE 222	Stem Cell Technology	3:0
BE 223	Space Biology and Bioengineering	2:0
BE 224	Diagnostics and Devices	3:0
BE 226	Synthetic Biology and Genetic Engineering	2:0
BE 227	Synthetic Biology and Protein Engineering	2:0
BE 228	Introduction to Mathematical Oncology	3:0
BE 229	Statistics for Bioengineers	1:0
BE 230	Data Science for Bioengineers	2:0
BE 301	AI for Biomedical Research	3:0
CH 242	Special Topics in Theoretical Biology	3:0
CH 248	Molecular Systems Biology	3:0
DB 201	Mathematics and Statistics for Biologists	2:0
DB 202	General Biology	2:0
DB 250	Research Applications of Flow Cytometry	2:0
DS 201	Bioinformatics	2:0
DS 301	Bioinformatics	2:0
EC 101	Process of Scientific Thinking	1:0
EC 201	Theoretical and Mathematical Ecology	2:1
EC 202	Ecology: Pattern and Process	2:1
EC 203	Ecology: Principles and Applications	2:0
EC 204	Evolutionary Biology	2:0
EC 204	Evolutionary Biology	2:1
EC 206	Evolutionary Genetics	2:1
EC 301	Animal Behaviour : Mechanisms and Evolution	2:1
EC 302	Plant-Animal Interactions (Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution)	2:1
EC 303	Stochastic and Spatial Dynamics in Biology	2:1
EC 305	Quantitative Ecology : Research Design and Inference	2:1
EC 306	Advanced ecological statistics	2:1
EC 309	Ecosystems and Global Change	2:0
EC 309A	Ecosystems and Global Change	3:0
LS 205	Ecology and Evolution	3:0
LS 206	Developmental Biology and Genetics	3:0
LS 207	Fundamentals of Molecular Biology	3:0
LS 208	Physiology and Neurobiology	2:0
MB 201	Introduction to Biophysical Chemistry	2:0
MB 204	Molecular Spectroscopy and its Biological Applications	3:0
MB 205	Introduction to X-ray Crystallography	2:0
MB 206	Conformational and Structural aspects of biopolymers	3:0
MB 207	DNA - Protein interaction, Regulation of gene expression, Nanobiology	2:0
MB 208	Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience	3:1
MB 209	Cellular Neurophysiology	3:1
MB 210	Peptides and Drug - Design	2:0
MB 211	Advanced Methods in Molecular Simulations	3:1
MB 212	Electron microscopy and 3D image processing for Life sciences	2:0
MB 214	Neuronal Physiology and Plasticity	3:0
MB 215	Neuronal Ion Transport in Health and Disease	2:0
MB 216	AI in Structural Biophysics and Molecular Therapeutics	2:0
MB 222	Electron microscopy and 3D image processing for Life sciences	3:0
MB 303	Elements of Structural Biology	3:0
MB 305	Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy	3:0
MB 315	Relaxation Theory and Applications to Solution State Biomolecular NMR	2:0
MB 316	Relaxation Theory and Applications to Solution State Biomolecular NMR	3:1
MB 333	Advanced course for Cryo-EM sample preparation and 3D image	2:1
MC 202	Developmental Genetics	2:0
MC 203	Essentials in Microbiology	3:0
MC 205	Pathogen - Host interactions and immune evasion mechanisms	2:0
MC 206	RNA Biology	2:0
MC 207	Molecular Biology	3:0
MC 208	Principles of Genetic Engineering	2:0
MC 210	Molecular Oncology	2:0
MC 211	Molecular basis of Ageing and Regeneration	3:0
MC 212	Advances in Cell Biology	2:0
MC 213	Laboratory Rotations	2:0
MC 214	Basic and Applied Virology	2:0
MC 215	Lysosomes and Autophagy	2:0
MC 216	Biological Safety: Principles and practices	1:0
MC 217	Fundamentals of Immunotherapy	2:0
MC 218	Advances in Molecular Biology	2:0
NS 201	Systems Neuroscience	2:0
NS 202	Molecular and Cellular Basis of Behaviour	2:0
NS 203	Cognitive Neuroscience	2:0
NS 204	Developmental Neuroscience	2:0
NS 211	Optical Spectroscopy and Microscopy	3:0
NS 212	Neural Signal Processing	2:1
NS 301	Topics in Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience	2:0
NS 302	Topics in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience	3:0
NS 303	Topics in Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience	3:0
NS 304	Topics in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience	3:0
RD 201	Genetics	2:0
RD 204	Principles of Signal Transduction in Biological Systems	2:0
RD 205	Genetics and Genomic Medicine	2:0
RD 206	Molecular Oncology	2:0
RD 209	Molecular basis of ageing and regeneration	2:0
RD 210	Fundamentals of Physiology and Medicine	2:0
RD 212	Research Methods in experimental Biology	0:1
RD 213	Stem cells and Mammalian development	2:0

Continuing Master's Degree

Students have the option to continue for the Master of Science (MS) degree after completing four years of the Bachelor of Science (BS).

View 5th Year Requirements

Fulfilment of 12 credits from the courses offered by the following departments and 20 credits from the project.

Biochemistry (BC)
Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES)
Centre for Neuroscience (CNS)
Microbiology and Cell Biology (MCB)
Molecular Biophysics Unit (MBU)
Developmental Biology and Genetics (DBG)
Department of Bioengineering (BE) formally BSSE
Course offered for Integrated PhD by Biological Science Division - DB & LS Course codes.