“Our universities manage to produce a large number of Ph.Ds. But what about the value of these degrees? If we do not fix the problem of quality we will face the prospect of being left behind in a world racing towards a knowledge society?” he said.

He was speaking at the 78th annual convocation of the Osmania University held at the Tagore Auditorium here on Tuesday.

“The great challenge before the universities is to access this knowledge and to mould it in a manner amenable to our societal needs and requirements. If this challenge can be successfully met, India can maintain its intellectual leadership and occupy its rightful place among the comity of nations. I believe that we could together strive to change the things for the better and to make ours a great nation,’’ he said.

Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University T.Tirupati Rao speaking on the occasion focussed on the achievements and initiatives of the university.“The primary focus in our efforts is a shift from teacher-centric teaching to student-centric mode. This is facilitated by interventions and innovations such as choice-based credit system, project work, assignments, seminars, enrichment of classroom teaching, continuous evaluation, student mentoring and feedback.

There is an overwhelming support and positive response to this move from the staff and students. There is discernible improvement in the quality of teaching- learning processes among the students,“ he said.

Rao also informed that the university figured among the top ten universities of the country according to the recent India Today-Nielsen survey.

The chief guest Sukhadeo Thorat, chairman, University Grants Commission, threw some light on the activities of the government in the field of higher education.

“The government of India has taken steps for the expansion of higher education as a part of 11th plan 2007-2012.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, termed Eleventh Plan as ‘Education Plan’. The high priority to higher education is reflected in setting a target of 15 percent enrolment rate which is equivalent to seven million more students by 2012. This is an ambitious target and so far as we have achieved an increase in enrolment rate from about 1% in 1950 to about 11% in 2007,’’ Thorat observed.

Successful candidates were conferred degrees and gold medals were awarded to those who excelled in the examinations.

The Common Core State Standards were approved June 2 by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, as well as teachers and administrators nationwide.

Among other changes, the standards would put increased emphasis on writing and align Michigan’s education standards with those in other states on a national level.The standards also focus on K-12 students in the areas of mathematics and English language arts. They were updated from a January version to provide more alignment between grades and remove focus on non-measurable skills. The English requirements also were reformatted, giving greater emphasis to reading and writing and less attention to speaking and listening.

“We saw under No Child Left Behind, individual states’ (course standards) varied so much across the country,” said Barbara Markle, assistant dean of K-12 outreach for the College of Education.

“It’s hard to ascertain what students know other than what you see on national assessments on educational progress. You would see some real difference between states.”

The standards will be considered by the State Board of Education during its June 15 meeting, and will be voted on at that meeting, said Martin Ackley, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education.

Sharif Shakrani, MSU education professor and co-director of the Education Policy Center at MSU who also formerly worked in the U.S. Department of Education, said Michigan likely will accept the math standards, but might have a more difficult time implementing the standards’ English language arts and other requirements because of cost factors.

“(The mathematics’s standards) are very consistent with the state’s standard,” Shakrani said.

“Michigan and (its) standards emphasize reading, and over the last few months they de-emphasized writing, and were never much involved in speaking and listening. If they commit to use (Common Core State Standards) …it would cost a lot of money … (that) they do not have.”

Will Schmidt, an MSU distinguished professor of education who helped create the mathematics standard and was part of the validation committee that deemed the final standards acceptable, said the policies would improve the education in the U.S. compared to other countries.

“We learned how far our standards were behind the rest of the world,” Schmidt said. “One of the reasons our standards were so fragmented was because there was no common place. Every state had its own standard.”

Abbey Doyle, a recent graduate of DeWitt High School who will be attending MSU in the fall, said she felt national standards of any sort would ensure all high school students received an equal education.

The two countries have agreed on an exchange programme under which American students will come to study Chinese language or do research, said Zhang Xiuqin, director of Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of the Ministry of Education.

The agreement was signed during the second round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, which concluded on Tuesday in Beijing, Xinhua reported.

Principals of some US primary and secondary schools and Chinese language teachers in the US will be invited to China as part of the project.

American college students will also be invited to participate in summer language camps in China. And, under the agreement, 10,000 Chinese post-graduates will go to the US to pursue PhD.

Zhang said the project will provide an opportunity to Chinese graduates to study in US universities and research institutes.

I had always liked science but by age 10, I had already decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian. However, after seeing the film Ben Hur at age 11—during which two of the main characters who have leprosy are miraculously cured—I fantasized what it might be like to be able to discover cures for infectious diseases. As corny as it may sound, the movie convinced me that my true calling in life wasn’t veterinary medicine but microbiology. Nevertheless, I attended Cornell University as a pre-veterinary medicine undergraduate with a dual major in animal science and microbiology. During my senior year at Cornell, Dr. Brooks Naylor, my food microbiology professor at the time, invited me to do a senior research project in his laboratory. After several weeks in the laboratory I was hooked and knew that graduate school and not veterinary school was in my future.

I entered graduate school in 1974 and did my PhD work in Bob Deibel’s laboratory in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying the pathogenesis of Salmonella gastroenteritis. Because Bob was Chairman of the Department and a food microbiology consultant, he wasn’t around much. This forced me to become self reliant and an independent investigator very early in my scientific career. Interestingly, when I started graduate school, my goal was to earn a PhD degree and teach microbiology at a small liberal arts college. However, after three years at Wisconsin, I decided to eschew a career as a science educator in favor of becoming a tenure track faculty member at a prestigious research institution.

I received my PhD degree in 1981and chose to do a postdoctoral fellowship with Stephen Morse in the Department of Microbiology at Oregon Health Sciences University where I investigated the pathogenesis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. After two years in Stephen’s lab, I realized that the field of molecular biology had finally taken off and I needed to develop molecular biological skills to compete for my coveted tenure track faculty position. In 1984, I joined Howard Shuman’s laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Microbiology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York City where I studied the molecular pathogenesis of Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires Disease.

In 1987, after spending three more years as a postdoctoral fellow, my newly acquired molecular biology training coupled with a respectable publication record helped me to land a tenure track faculty position in the Department of Microbiology at the University Of Miami School Of Medicine. I spent the next seven years feverishly doing laboratory research, teaching medical and graduate students, publishing papers and mainly writing grants to establish an independent research program on the role of lipopolysaccharide in the molecular pathogenesis of L. pneumophila. While I was a productive researcher, who regularly published and was recognized on several occasions for teaching excellence, I failed to consistently win grant support to run my laboratory. Consequently, in 1994, I was denied tenure and forced to leave academia—an emotionally devastating event that that ended a life-long dream of becoming a world class research scientist.

Luckily, at that time, the American biotechnology industry had finally hit its stride and I landed a job as a scientist at a New Jersey-based biotechnology company where I managed an antibacterial drug discovery program. My time in industry—which lasted only two years—provided me a firm understanding of the business side of science and perhaps, more importantly, convinced me that industrial research wasn’t for me. This, coupled with a yearning desire to teach again, prompted me to successfully apply for a job as Chairperson of Biology at a local community college. While a good idea at the time, I quickly realized that while I still loved to teach, administration wasn’t my strong suit and I left the community college job after a year.

Unfortunately, by 1998, I had effectively exhausted most traditional career options for scientists with PhD degrees and I desperately needed a job—mainly because I had a wife and three young children to support. Fortunately, while working at the community college, I successfully helped several professional recruiters place new hires into jobs at biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. This prompted me to seriously consider professional recruiting as a career option and in early 1999 I landed a job as a recruiter at a local recruiting firm. As a new hire I had to attend recruiter school for six weeks. Surprisingly, this training would prove to play a pivotal role in subsequent decisions that helped to shape my career.

After three successful years as professional recruiter, an Australian biotechnology company recruited and hired me as a science and business consultant to help guide their antibacterial drug discovery program. The new job led to an almost four year stint as an independent management consultant advising private and publicly-traded biotechnology companies on business, scientific and financial matters. Also during this time, I decided to indulge my own entrepreneurial fantasies and in 2001 I founded BioInsights (www.bioinsights.com), Inc, a bioscience education and training company. In 2003, Abe Abuchowski and I founded Prolong Pharmaceuticals (www.prolongpharmaceuticals.com) a drug delivery company with two drugs in early stage clinical development. Unfortunately, the rigorous demands of running BioInsights and starting Prolong ultimately led to the demise of my consulting practice and by 2004 I was forced to consider another career move.

Luckily, in 2002, I had begun to write for several biotechnology industry trade publications. Although I wasn’t getting paid to write, it enabled me to hone and polish my writing skills. In late 2004, a medical communications expert who I knew suggested that I take a stab at medical writing. At the time, I didn’t know much about medical writing but I quickly learned that it pays well and medical writers are always in demand. I took her advice and landed my first medical writing job in 2005. Since then, I have worked at a variety of medical communications agencies and pharmaceutical companies preparing manuscripts, posters, slide presentations and other work. Currently, I am freelance science and medical writer, blogger (www.biojobblog.com) and social media enthusiast who, along with Dr. Vincent Racaniello, started an online social networking site for bioscientists called BioCrowd (www.biocrowd.com)

Unlike most scientists, my career path has taken many unexpected twists and turns. I never intended it to be as eclectic or convoluted as it has turned out to be. Nevertheless, I believe that my unusual career trajectory has transformed me into a better rounded scientist than I would have been if I had been able to pursue my intended academic career. In retrospect, I attribute my career successes to solid problem solving skills, an unrelenting desire to continue to learn and an unwavering ability to take risks. Finally, and perhaps most important, I learned that there is no right or wrong career path in the life sciences—only the one that you choose for yourself!

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!

Programmes Offered:

B.E. in Biotechnology

M.Tech. in Industrial Biotechnology

Ph.D. Biotechnology

The undergraduate Biotechnology Programme (B.E.) in MIT was started in the academic year 2005-06. The course objective is to mould students with a technical base for employment in the diverse areas of Biotechnology, where the industry based arena is expanding rapidly. This course has been designed to provide the students with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in biochemical engineering, molecular biology, enzymology, bioinformatics etc. to keep pace with latest developments and to cater to the needs of industrial biotechnology sector. This professional course opens up avenues for its graduates to promote entrepreneurship as well as careers in biotechnology related industries.

The department offers a total of eleven laboratories from the 3rd to 7th semester, with 30% weightage to science, 30% to computers and 40% to Bio-processing technology. Students gain hands-on experience in all these three areas, which is unique to the Biotechnology programme at M.I.T., Manipal.

In this programme, while constancy on essential areas of biology and engineering curriculum is maintained, considerable flexibility is built in through the electives offered in the study. The students are encouraged to select areas that fit his/ her aptitude and interest, so that they are allowed to specialise in the area of choice as follows: genetic engineering, process development, computer application in bioprocess, design and development of materials and equipments in bioprocess.

Growth Prospects:

With its agricultural heritage and high technology industrial base, India provides a wide range of opportunities for biotech engineers. Biotechnology-based applications are poised to leave the research lab and enter commercial applications. The students have a wide range of options to choose from after finishing the course. The list shown below is only indicative and not comprehensive. They can consider the options of higher studies like M.Tech, MS, etc, specialising in the field they wish to.

Design and operation of fermentation systems

Development of novel food processing operations

Development of upstream and downstream strategies

Design of new approaches to monitor and control biological processes

Design of alternative bioprocesses to the existing chemical processes

Design of the biological waste water treatment systems for chemical and bioprocess industries

Development of bioinformatics tools for novel applications

Production of cost effective bio-fuels

Research activity:

Projects carried out:

Hydrolysis of rice bran oil using immobilised lipase from Candida rugosa (completed)

On going projects:

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Studies on Color removal from waste water
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Mathematical Modeling and Control Design of a Bioreactor for Fermentation process

Remediation of Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils Through Indigenous Microbial Biosurfactants

Aqueous two phase systems for the recovery of biomolecules from tannery waste water

Production and purification of fabrinolytic enzymes

Contact information:

Dr. V.Ramachandra Murty
Professor and Head
Dept of Biotechnology,
MIT, Manipal – 576104
Phone: 91-0820-2924321
Email: murty.vytla@manipal.edu
URL: www.manipal.edu