The fast growing biotechnology sector in Karnataka has been facing severe shortage of industry-ready graduates and post-graduates for a long time. In an effort to fulfill the needs of the industry, the Karnataka government in association with the Vision Group, ABLE and Industry representatives has come up with an idea  to provide employment opportunities in this sector.

In the Millennium Biotech Policy-II, the Government of Karnataka has initiated establishment of finishing schools across the state. Twelve BT Finishing Schools (BTFS) have been established in Karnataka with appropriate course content and duration to equip graduates and post-graduates with necessary employable skills and to make them industry ready. One such institution is The Oxford College of Science, which will start Bio-Technology Finishing School (BTFS) with following domains from September 2011. For details, how to apply, entrance examination, etc., Visit www.btfskarnataka.in

 Courses offered at The Oxford College of Science

• PG Diploma in Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics
• PG Diploma in Plant Tissue Culture and Micropropagation’

Total duration for Each domain is 12 months

1. Course work : 6 months 
2. Internship : 6 months

Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics

Introduction:
Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics of diseases is a rapidly growing translational area that bridges discoveries in molecular pathogenesis by basic scientists and the application of these discoveries in useful clinical assays.

Description:
Diagnosis of diseases, either human or veterinary has evolved over the past decades.  With the advances intranslational technologies, diagnostic industries have been growing rapidly, integrating recent advances in genomics and proteomics into their arsenal. This is in addition to currently practiced traditional pathological, immunological, biochemical, cellular and molecular diagnostics of number of diseases.  In this ever growing field, there is immediate need for trained personnel who are not only equipped with knowledge to understand the relevance of diagnostic tests, but are also able to handle the sophisticated equipment used in the modern diagnostic laboratories.  Biotechnology Finishing School concept precisely wished to address this lacunae to facilitate growth of this important sector of biotechnology.

Scope and Application:
Currently, there is a need for human resource to cater to the needs of diagnostic industries to adapt, discover, develop and translate various diagnostic tests which are in use.   It is envisaged that there will be a continued and growing demand for rapid, reliable and high-throughput, cost-effective diagnostic tests in future.  The Biotechnology finishing school is designed to fill this void by creating fully trained manpower who able to face the challenges that are encountered in any diagnostic industry.  These include industries who manufacture diagnostic products and the service providers who undertake cellular and molecular diagnostic at the primary, secondary and tertiary sites.  The curriculum of the Biotechnology Finishing School in Cellular and Molecular diagnostics consists of hands-on training in routine as well as state of the art technologies with a sound background on principles and practices of each technology.  With the sophisticated facilities acquired and built specifically for this, finishing schools have the required personnel, manpower and the knowledge to train future generation of workforce to cater to the needs of diagnostic industries.  It is also envisaged that there will bean intense interaction with the diagnostic industries and their constant input and feedback is expected to benefit the trainees. 

Plant tissue culture and Micro Propagation

Plants are valuable source of food, fodder, fuel and fiber. The demand for their products is ever increasing globally as well as locally. Techniques used in regenerating whole plants from small tissue or plant cells under controlled conditions are broadly referred to as plant tissue culture.  Plant tissue culture, or the aseptic culture of cells, tissues, organs and their components under defined physical and chemical conditions in vitro, is an important tool in both basic and applied studies as well as in commercial application.

Plant tissue culture is based on the principle of “Totipotency” It is the natural ability of plant cells to regenerate into cells, embryos, shoot or roots. It also refers to the in vitro cultivation of plants, seeds, tissues, organs, embryos, single cells, protoplasts on nutrient media under aseptic conditions. It owes its origin to the ideas of the German scientist, Haberlandt, at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the availability of these techniques that led to the application of tissue culture to broad areas of cell behavior, plant modification and improvement, pathogen-free plants and germplasm storage, clonal propagation, and products mainly secondary metabolite formation, starting in the mid-1960s. Cell cultures have remained an important tool in the study of basic areas of plant biology and biochemistry and have assumed major significance in studies in molecular biology and agricultural biotechnology.

The advantages of tissue culture techniques for rapid multiplication of plants, limited requirement of mother plants, Uniformity of planting material, Disease-free planting material, Improved production, Independent of season and environmental conditions. It can also be used to establish cell lines for production of secondary metabolites of commercial importance.
Some of the successfully tissue cultured plants are Banana, pineapple, strawberry, Sugarcane, potato, Turmeric, ginger, vanilla, cardamom, Aloe vera, geranium, stevia, patchouli, bamboo, eucalyptus and populus sps.

Agri based Companies:, Nuziveedu Seeds, Rasi Seeds, Mahyco, Metahelix, Ankur Seeds, Krishidhan Seeds Monsanto, Ajeet Seeds, JK Agrigenetics, Bayer Crop Science, Nath Seeds, Bayer Crop Science, Sami laboratories, Cadila Healthcare, Avesthagen, Indo-American Hybrid Seeds, Sri Ramco Biotech, MSR Biotech, K.F.Biotech, Rishi Herbals, Lakshmi Biotech, Labland Biotech.