Department Of Biotechnology

Students participate in various inter-collegiate competitions and have won several prizes in these.

• Ms. Aaishwarya Pilankar of M.Sc. II and Mrs. Madhura Damle won 1^st prize  in poster competition­­­­­­­­­­ in one day national conference on ‘Emerging trends and  classical life sciences(ETC-LS-2017)’ organized by Yashwantrao Chavan Mahavidyalaya .
•  Ms. Tanmayee Sathe of M.Sc. II and Mr. Asim M Auti presented a poster at 7^th Annual, Sajjan Gupta Memorial Awards Poster Competition at Mumbai in January 2017
• Ms. Pooja Ubhe and Ms. Bhavana Gupra of M.Sc. II participated in Avishkar Poster Presentation competition, Pune in December 2016
• Kajal Patel, Niketa Chauhan and Tanmayee Bhamburkar cleared Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL), New Delhi examination.
• Abhishek Teli received CSIR-JRF fellowship.
• Cancervive’- a skit presented at Ruby hall on occasion of cancer day. Our students won the runner up cash prize.
• Sanket Phadtare and Chinmay Kashikar won the second prize in Photography competition organized by ‘Biotechexellence’ at Wadia College.
• Anupama Rao and Hriticka Choudhary  received 2^nd Prize in Model Presentation competition at Modern College, Shivajinagar, Pune
• Anupama Rao, T.Y. BSc- Oral Presentation at DBT sponsored National Conference on "Modern Analytical techniques in Microbiology" on 17th and 18th January 2014, organized by Department of Microbiology, Fergusson College, Pune.
• Soniya Dahiwal, T.Y. B Sc.- Poster Presentation at UGC sponsored National conference "Modern methods in detection, identification and quantification of microorganisms" on 18th Feb 2014, jointly organized by Association of Microbiologists, India, Pune unit and Department of Microbiology, Yashwantrao Mohite College, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune.
• Shraddha More, T.Y. BSc- Poster Presentation on “A biotechnological approach for improving free- run yields of Red wine” in DST sponsored Conference organized by College of Engineering, Pune (15-16 March 2013).
• Tanmayee M. Sathe and Avani A. Khadilkar, MSc students- Poster presentation on ‘Bioremediation Approach for Hydrocarbon Degradation Using Bacterial Isolates at College Lab Setup: Effect of each isolate and consortium on Seed Germination and Plant Growth Promotion (PGP).’
• Niketa Chauhan, Neha Khangaonkar, Tanmayee Sathe participated in Avishkar (conducted by University of Pune).
• About 20 students from SY, TY and MSc I participated in a student competition organized by Vijnyan Bharati (The Institute of Engineering and Technology – Tech For Seva student competition) at Cummins college on 27th and 28th of September 2013.

Annual Activities of the department

Common Address: Common address held at beginning of each academic year provides a common platform for interaction between all students and teachers. All Students are given guidelines about DOs and DON’Ts and are informed about different activities held in during an academic year.

Lectures on Health and Fitness are arranged for the teachers and students to emphasize the importance of exercise.  On 22nd July 2017 Mrs. Yogini Bhat gave demonstration on Yoga to underline the importance of yoga in maintaining good health and mental peace. On 14th July 2018 lecture was delivered by Dr. Suman Pande, SPPU, on the very crucial subject ‘Health and Fitness’ to emphasize the role of exercise and fitness along with healthy food in student life. On 10th Nov. 2020, Dr. Tapesha Jain, Physiotherapist, highlighted the importance of correct posture during her talk on “Spine health in Online teaching and learning”.

Parent Teacher Meeting: Every year parent teacher meeting is held for FY and MSc I classes. This provides a platform for discussion about students’ progress and understanding concerns of the parents.

Alumni meeting: This helps to bring about interaction of current students with alumni. In 2019-20 an alumni group of Biotech created on social media platform which is active in supporting present students of the department for future path and placements.

Activities conducted under DBT Star College Scheme 

The Department of Biotechnology received funding as a part of DBT Star College scheme for strengthening curricular aspects at undergraduate level.

• DBT Star College scheme activities were inaugurated with a talk on ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ by Ms. Shweta Uttam, Consultant and Managing Partner, iTHEME Consulting Pvt. Ltd.
• Lectures by eminent personalities from Industry and Research Institutes were held for biotechnology students on various topics such as Scope of Clinical Database Management, Introduction to Bioinformatics, Artificial Reproductive Techniques, Entrepreneurship in Landscaping.
• An informative talk  by Dr. Dhara Lakhar (IISER, Pune) was arranged on the project ‘MANAV- The Human Atlas Initiative’ funded by DBT, India and   co-funded by Persistent System.
• Department organized workshop on various topics like Bio-entrepreneurship. In February 2018 entrepreneurs from Biotechnology Industry were invited to share their experiences about overcoming challenges faced in setting up of Biotechnology Industry.
• 30 students from S.Y. and T. Y. B. Sc Biotechnology were sent for Industrial Training to Biotechnology Company, BioEra, Pune.
• In February 2019 an interactive workshop was co-organized with Institute of Chronobiology Education and Research on, ‘Chronobiology’ for S.Y. and T.Y. B.Sc. students. This has helped students to understand their chronotype and also further applications of the subject. 
• In Jan.2020 a hands-on workshop was jointly arranged by Dept of Zoology and Biotechnology on ‘Hydra health index and Regeneration’ 

Outreach Activities: 

• • In 2016-17, Department has arranged a poster exhibition for high school students on topic “Sustainable Biotechnological Solutions” for local high schools.
  • Experiments related to Plant Tissue Culture and on electrophoresis were demonstrated to 12 std. students.
  • On occasion of Science day (28th Feb.2020) an Exhibition related to microscopy was organized for junior college and high school students

Biotechnology Association

Biotechnology Association was constituted for the purpose of coordinating academic, social, sports and cultural activities of the Department and align these activities with the activities of the college as well as the Savitribai Phule Pune University. Science Saturdays- The aim is to provide a platform for students of the Department of Biotechnology for interaction with research scientists and entrepreneurs. Its acitivity includeLectures were organized on different subjects like 

• • Alphanso Mango : Its flavor and molecular intricacies’  by Dr. Vidya Gupta, CSIR Emeritus Scientist, NCL Pune on 27th  July’19. 
  • On 31st August’19, Prof. Dr. R.N. Gacche, BOS Chairman, Biotechnology and Head, Dept. of Biotechnology, SPPU was invited as guest speaker to talk on ‘Angiogenesis as Drug Target’. 
  • The lecture on bioinformatics was delivered by Dr. Rohan Meshram from Dept. of Bioinformatics, SPPU.

Social Awareness

As a part of departmental Social activity students took initiative and cleaned the departmental premises. The students actively participated in collection and donation of books and Stationery to NGU ‘Mamata Foundation’‘

BioQuest - Every year, the department publishes a news letter based on a theme. In 2019 BioQuest  was published on the theme ‘Biotechnology in waste management’. Till now department has published newsletters based on ‘Teamwork at Cellular and molecular level’, ‘Accidental Discoveries’, ‘Indian Bio entrepreneurs’ and ‘Bio-ethics’.

Biofest: Biofest activity is organized each year during which various activities like sports, quiz,  games and cultural programmes are planned.

B. Sc. (Biotechnology)

M. Sc. (Biotechnology)

Activities

Event

Guest Lectures

NewsLetter

Tours

Zest

• Serum Institute, Pune, Reliance Life Sciences, Jain Irrigation, TCS, Persistent Systems, Pune, Grape research Institute Manjari, Lupin Biotech Pune, Geneome Biotech Pune, Evolvus, Optra Systems, Praj Industries, Glenmark, VLD healthcare, KEM Hospital, Novozymes South East Asia- Pune Division, National Toxicology centre, Pune, Actrec, Mumbai, Indira IVF Hospital Pvt., Ltd, Himedia, Banglore, Zydus Pharma, Ahmedabad  etc.

• Virology, Pune, Biocon, Bangalore,
• Medical Biotech, Baroda
• Health Science, Pune
• Bremen,Germany
• Physiotherapy, Pune
• Forensic science, Gujrat
• SIES, Mumbai
• Marine Biotechnology, Goa
• Wine Technology, UK, Germany
• Goa Institute of Management, Goa
• Biotech, IISc Bangalore

• Neural behaviour, USA
• Stem cell research, Vienna

• Vaishali Javdekar got recognition as a Ph.D  guide  in the subjects Microbiology and Biotechnology

Publications (2015-2020)

1.  Madhura A. Damle, Alok P. Jakhade,and Rajeev C. Chikate* (2019) Modulating Pro- and Antioxidant Activities of Nanoengineered Cerium Dioxide Nanoparticles against Escherichia coli.ACS Omega, 4, 3761−3771 ( Impact Factor=2.548)
2. Jatinder Kaur, Madhura Damle, Hemant Mande, Prasanna Ghalsasi, Rajendra konde deshmukh, Parbati Bandyopadhyay And Rajeev Chikate (2017) Ruthenium (II) complexes of aroylhydrazones: Structural, electrochemical and electrostatic interaction with DNA Journal of Coordination Chemistry volume 70,10 ( Impact Factor =1.685)

1. Maya. S. Khater 1* , Gauri. R. Kulkarni 2 , Sagar. S. Khater 3 ,Haribhau Gholap 4 , Rajendra Patil 5 Study to elucidate effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on bacterial membrane potential and membrane permeability,Mater Res Express, DOI, 10.1088/2053-1591/ab731a Impact factor-1.445, Date of Submission – 05.11.2019 Accepted 5.2.2020.
2. Khater MS, Kulkarni GR, Talathi P and Karnik R, Clinical applications of ZnO nanoparticles: int. Res. J. of Science & Engineering, 2017; Special Issue A1: 21-28 SJIF Impact Factor 4.11, ISSN: 2322-0015, UGC Approved Journal No. 63628
3.  Maya Khater, Sagar S Khater,HaribhauGholap, RajendraPatil and Gauri Kulkarni Title - Comparative studies on measurement of Membrane Potential of bacterial cells treated with ZnO nanoparticles by Spectrofluorometry, fluorescence microscopy and flowcytometryJournal- Journal of microbiological methods,Impact factor- 1.903,Date of Submission – 08.06.2019, Accepted march 2020

1.  Tahsin Bennur, Vaishali Javdekar, Geetanjali B. Tomar, Smita Zinjarde (2020) Gold nanoparticles biosynthesized by Nocardiopsis dassonvillei NCIM 5124 enhance osteogenesis in gingival mesenchymal stem cells. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 104:4081-4092. (Impact Factor 3.530)
2. T Bennur, Z Khan, R Kshirsagar, V Javdekar, S Zinjarde (2016) Biogenic gold nanoparticles from the Actinomycete Gordonia amarae: Application in rapid sensing of copper ions. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 233: 684-690. (Impact Factor 4.758)
3. Tahsin Bennur, Ameeta Ravi Kumar, Smita Zinjarde, Vaishali Javdekar (2015). Nocardiopsis species: A potential source of bioactive compounds. Journal of Applied Microbiology 120 (1), 1-16. (Impact Factor 2.479)
4. Tahsin Bennur, Ameeta Ravi Kumar, Smita Zinjarde, Vaishali Javdekar* (2015). Nocardiopsis species: Incidence, ecological roles and adaptations. Microbiological Research 174: 33-47. (Impact Factor 1.939)

1. Vaishali Pisal, Pratik Wakchaure, Niranjan Patil and Sunita Bhagwat (2019)Green synthesized CeO2 quantum dots: a study of its antimicrobial potential. IOP Publishing Ltd Materials Research Express,  6, (11),115409 (Impact factor:1.449)

1. Harshada Sowani, Mohan Kulkarni, Smita Zinjarde and Vaishali Javdekar*(2017). Gordonia and related genera as opportunistic human pathogens causing infections of skin, soft tissues and bones.In: Microbiology of skin, soft tissue, bone and joint infections (Volume II of the book series “Clinical Microbiology: Diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis of infections”, Eds Kateryna Kon and Mahendra Rai) Academic Press, London. Pages 105-118.

1. Textbook of Microbiology in Nirali Publications, Mrs. Maya Khater, Mrs Vaishali Randive and Dr. Jayant Londhe.