About The Department

Biological Sciences have been renamed as Life Sciences

The ‘Department of Life Sciences (DLS)’, one of the youngest departments in the history of Presidency University came into existence in 2013 as ‘Department of Biological Sciences (DBS)’, and then renamed as ‘Department of Life Sciences (DLS)’ in 2016. Though still in the fledgling years of its inception, DLS has already started paving roads for an entirely revolutionized way of teaching science. With a research centric curriculum, it has modernized the way students approach life sciences, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. The strength of the department lies in its dynamic, research- focused faculty, many of whom have left illustrious research careers to come and work at DLS. They bring with them the bright ideas and the enthusiasm of the young, and tirelessly encourage the students to strive for excellence.

The syllabus has been entirely re-structured to include research modules at the postgraduate level. Students of the department graduate with a holistic idea about the entire gamut of disciplines comprising life sciences- from geomicrobiology to biophysics and bioinformatics, from developmental biology to neurosciences, for example. This interdisciplinary approach has been tremendously successful, with a significant number of students qualifying for Ph.D. scholarships.

The research focus of the faculty is also very diverse, and covers a wide range of areas from cell and molecular biology, virology, cancer biology, plant biotechnology, developmental biology, microbiology, biochemistry, computational biology, structural biology, environmental biology and ecology. Several faculty also hold prestigious national fellowships and research grants. There are also extensive intradepartmental, interdepartmental, as well as international collaborations, which allows for a truly interdisciplinary research environment.

The department has several Central Instrumentation Facilities such as Animal Cell Culture, Plant Tissue Culture and Microscope facility, which house several high-end sophisticated instruments that are listed elsewhere. Student classrooms and computer labs are also updated for an effortless learning experience. The department has 28 core faculty members and student strength of over 400 consisting of Ph.D. fellows, B.Sc. and M.Sc. students. The department has also started awarding her first doctorate degrees.

Besides teaching and research, the faculty at DLS also believes in giving back to the community. They hold regular scientific colloquiums and public talks, outreach activities and workshops to incorporate the scientific temper in the larger scientific community. With the inroads DLS is making with teaching, research and community outreach, it can be expected that it will very soon catapult itself into the international scientific community.