Looking to Put Your Engineering or Science Background to Good Use but Don’t Want to Get Lost in the Herd? OPT for a Career in Biotechnology
So you are pursuing your studies in the science stream or perhaps in the field of engineering and want to learn more about your career options. Biotechnology is one of the most exciting sciences of the century. Revolutionary, beneficial, progressive. These are some words that come to mind when one thinks of biotechnology, a branch of science that is advancing by the day.
Biotechnology is an interdisciplinary science that not only covers biology but also physics, chemistry, engineering and mathematics. A biotechnologist is one who manipulates living organisms, such as plants, animals, microbes and singular cells, for the production and processing of goods for beneficial purposes. You might recognise the application of biotechnology in a wide spectrum of life from medical biotechnology (vaccine, antibiotics and hormone production) and agricultural biotechnology (genetically modified plants and hybrid seeds) to industrial biotechnology (fermentation, manufacturing of polymers and bioplastics). Simply put, a career in this field will see you manipulating living cells and/or bacteria for the development of new medicines, improving energy conservation and increasing agricultural output. Many people in this field also get into genome-based biotechnology that researches the composition of diseases to find preventive measures that may eventually eliminate these disorders from the history of mankind.
Those who have completed class 12 with a science background can enrol themselves for a BTech course in biotechnology and then later complete their postgraduate studies by opting for an MTech in the same field. While pursuing your graduate studies, undertaking an internship at specialised universities or research institute labs will help you to jumpstart your career. Not only will you get on-the-job training but you will also get recommendation letters for future jobs. Biotechnologists need to have a high level of intelligence, the ability to concentrate for hours on end, patience and attention to minor details. The job prospects are excellent in this field and can range from working as a researcher, scientist, and quality control officer to a production in-charge and a professor. Openings exist in government institutes, agricultural institutes, horticultural institutes, universities and pharmaceutical companies.
A career in this field is very lucrative as it is one of the fastest growing fields today.
Course Canvas
- Amity Institute Of Biotechnology, New Delhi
- Bharti Vidyapeeth, Pune
- Indian Institute of Technology (across India)
- Bose University, Kolkata
- Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala
- Centre of Biotechnology, Delhi
Volume 2 Issue 2
