5-yr Integrated M.Tech. in Biotechnology
Overview
The Master of Technology (M.Tech.) in Biotechnology is a broad programme covering scientific and technological aspects of biotechnology tools and processes for sustainable manufacturing of bioproducts, for industries in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food and feed, environmental remediation, as well as production of platform chemicals and biofuels. The integrated masters-level advanced training program has been designed to create a strong scientific workforce and preparing students for careers in biotechnology research, industry or management, while also offering excellent preparation for further training in doctoral programs.
The program is intended for students who would like to pursue a career in biotechnology without putting 5-7 years commitment in Ph.D or even if intend to pursue PhD can do so in much shorter duration of 2-3 years after M.Tech. The biotechnology, biopharmaceutical and healthcare industries are among the largest in India or abroad with great demand for professionals with deep expertise in research and technological competence. The graduates will have an edge in annual package compared to B.Tech graduates.
Learning
Outcomes
MU has an international faculty roster with a rich industry-academic background, global exposure and research focus, contemporary curricula that is frequently reviewed and updated, and aligned to the global business and industry requirements.
Upon completing the program, students will be able to:
Program Highlights
Career
Avenues
Due to our location in Hyderabad- being the hub of life sciences-based industries, pharma city and housing medical devices park provides an edge to set up close linkages with industry, R&D institutes and international institutions of repute.
The academic qualifications of our faculty from international institutes of repute will provide opportunities to students in setting up exchange visits as well as having joint research supervision with faculty from international institutes.
The program prepares students for diverse careers:
Specializations
(6 Track Electives + Research Seminars + Thesis)
Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
Pharmaceutical biotechnology is a relatively new and growing field in which the principles of biotechnology are applied to the development of drugs. A majority of therapeutic drugs in the current market are bioformulations, such as antibodies, nucleic acid products and vaccines. Such bioformulations are developed through several stages that include: understanding the principles underlying health and disease; the fundamental molecular mechanisms governing the function of related biomolecules; synthesis and purification of the molecules; determining the product shelf life, stability, toxicity and immunogenicity; drug delivery systems; patenting; and clinical trials. The domain encompasses knowledge in rDNA technology such as cloning genes encoding the protein of interest into an appropriate cloning vector, finding suitable host cells to express the protein (eg Escherichia coli, yeast, insect cells, plants, or animals), designing protocols to obtain highly pure proteins (eg chromatographic purification via size-exclusion, ion-exchange, hydrophobic interaction or affinity) and protein engineering to generate mutants and/or facilitate post-translational modifications.
Green Chemicals & Bio-Products
A range of environment friendly products can be produced by biotechnology. These are known as green products or sustainable alternatives of petrochemical derived products. This specialization will cover production of green products ranging from enzymes and biocatalysts, biofuels, biobased platform chemicals, among others. Global market of enzyme is worth of $ 10.6 billion and it is expected to reach $14.9 billion by 2027. Similarly, global market of biofuels is worth of $ 141.32 billion and it is expected to reach $ 307.01 billion by 2030. Therefore, biotech professionals specialized in these fields are expected to have excellent employment opportunities in future.
Digital Agriculture
The Global Digital Agriculture market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.26% over the forecast period to reach a market size of US$20.713 billion in 2025 from US$11.527 billion in 2019. Digital Agriculture is known as the use of novel, advanced and innovative technologies, integrated into one specific system or software, to allow various stakeholders such as farmers, researchers, and others, that are working within the agriculture system or a value chain, to enhance their crop yield and food production. The specialization focuses on; i) Gather farming data, including historical, predictive modelling and environmental insights to choose suitable crops with higher yields; ii) Measure performance of the site by capturing data in realtime; iii) Use digital farming data (soil, crop health, weather, etc.) to provide decision support for using exact amount or water, nutrition and optimize pest control; iv) Increase farm’s economic and environmental sustainability; and v) Predict weather changes and react proactively.
Precision Medicine
The global precision medicine market size was valued at USD 66.1 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 175.64 billion by 2030 and poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5% during the forecast period 2022 to 2030. The genomics industry has a significant role to play in delivering on the promise of genomic medicine and its integration into healthcare. Precision medicine (PM) refers to tailoring of medical treatment depending on an individual’s genetic characteristics and relies on the use of data and genomics through diagnostic testing and analytics. It relies on the idea of the right intervention at the right dose to the right patient and at the right time. It is expected to deliver improved “quality use of medicines” resulting in improved quality of life for patients, as well as reduce adverse outcomes and drive down costs of treatment.
Gut microbiome
As humans, the number of microbial cells in our body outnumber our own cells by a ratio of 1.3:1. This diverse array of bacteria, fungi and viruses are called the microbiome. 95% of the microbiome resides in the gut and is in constant communication with the human systems. The gut microbiome is a very dynamic interactive community that plays a central role in human health and disease. The impact of this microbiome on human life ranges over nutrition, circadian rhythms, infectious disease, inflammatory disease, cancer, diabetes and even nervous system development. The gut microbiome is being explored extensively to identify diagnostic biomarkers for diseases such as diabetes and colon cancer as well as identifying their therapeutic potential. Gut microbiome modulation has been shown to have positive outcomes in treatments of obesity, auto-immune disorders and cardiovascular diseases. The Human Microbiome Market was valued at US$186.8 million in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 25.0 % during the forecast period 2023-2033. In 2019, the Government of India initiated a Rs150 crore project called the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) to map the microbiome in Indian population. Applications of the gut microbiome in healthcare is a very promising area that can deliver solutions to many diseases and improve the overall quality of life.
Food processing and nutrition
The food processing market is projected to grow from USD 163.79 billion in 2022 to USD 400.43 billion in 2030 at a CAGR of 11.82%. Proper food processing can enhance the shelf life of food products. Such food products can also be fortified with essential nutrients so that they can provide essential dietary components that may not otherwise be easily obtained due to various constraints such as resource limitations. Understanding how the process optimization should be done economically while maintaining hygiene and nutritional quality of the food products can aid in providing food security to the growing population of the country.
Biopharmaceutical Technology
Biopharmaceutical technology is a rapidly growing and emerging field where biotechnological principles are directly applied towards drug development for disease intervention. Majority (60%) of therapeutic drugs in the current market are bioformulations, such as antibodies, nucleic acid products, and vaccines. This field combines scientific principles from versatile domains such as understanding disease aetiology, biomolecular chemistry, biosynthesis and purification, formulation, assessing shelf life, stability, toxicity and immunogenicity, drug delivery systems, patenting, and clinical trials. Drawing from several deep-tech niches such as recombinant DNA technology, host system engineering, protein engineering, and immunology, this area with USD 478 billion market size (2023) is poised to see immense growth (9.2% CAGR) in the upcoming years. Some of the global market leaders in this field are Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb etc.
Biomanufacturing and Green Products
This field uses engineered biological systems for the preparation of chemicals and biological molecules with high market commercialization potential. Unlike traditional chemical synthesis, these production pathways and final commercial entity are considered “Green” as they often utilize raw materials of biological origin and the biproducts are also often biodegradable or reusable. It utilizes combinatorial technologies such as cell cultures, fermentation, metabolic network manipulation, enzyme engineering, ML, and automation engineering. Having a market size of USD 22 billion (2023) and 9.8% CAGR, this field is utilized in recombinant production of medical products & therapies, biomaterials of biomedical and agricultural importance, food & beverages, and specialty chemicals. Some of the global market leaders in this field are Unilever, Ansa Biotechnologies, Redbud labs etc.
Diagnostics and Biomarkers
Biomarker identification of chronic, infectious, and rare diseases and utilization of these biomarker for timely molecular diagnostics are a highly interdisciplinary area transcending the domains of medicine, engineering, chemistry, and biology. With direct application towards saving millions of lives, this field of market size USD 29 billion (2023) is considered an area with enormous growth potential (CAGR 8%). It combines state-of-the-art scientific advances and technologies from disease aetiology, electronics, physics, molecular recognition, chemical conjugation, microfluidics etc. Some of the global market leaders in this field are Abbott, Roche, Siemens, Qiagen etc.
