 | |
| Abbreviation | DBT |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1986 |
| Type | Government organisation |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
Region served | India |
| Jitendra Singh | |
Secretary | Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale |
| Affiliations | Ministry of Science and Technology (India) |
| Website | dbtindia |
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It was set up in 1986. [1]
Source: [2]
International Organization
Public Sector Undertakings
Supported Institutes and laboratories
| Name | Designation | Department |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Jitendra Singh | Hon'ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) | Ministry of Science and Technology & Earth Sciences |
| Dr. Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale | Secretary | Department of Biotechnology |
| Abhinav Gupta | PS to Hon. Minister of Science & Technology | Minister’s Office |
In December 2015, the Department of Biotechnology launched the National Biotechnology Development Strategy 2015–2020 programme. The stated aim of the programme is to intensify research in the fields of vaccines, humane genome, infectious and chronic diseases, crop science, animal agriculture and aquaculture, food and nutrition, environmental management and technologies for clean energy. The mission, through stakeholders in the biotechnology and technology domains is backed with significant investments to create new products, creating a strong infrastructure for research and development, commercialization, and empowering human resources scientifically and technologically. [10]
With an emphasis on microgravity research, space biomanufacturing, bioastronautics, and astrobiology, the Department of Biotechnology and the ISRO have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 25 October 2024 to collaborate on space biotechnology research. The application will be in ISRO's human space flight project, Gaganyaan. The MoU will address problems like food storage, radiation, microgravity, and constant nutrient supply, as well as health risks like cancer, cataracts, and loss of bone and muscle. [11]
Indian Space Research Organisation is India's national space agency. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister of India, with the Chairman of ISRO also serving as the chief executive of the DoS. It is primarily responsible for space-based operations, space exploration, international space cooperation and the development of related technologies. The agency maintains a constellation of imaging, communication and remote sensing satellites. It operates the GAGAN and IRNSS satellite navigation systems. It has sent three missions to the Moon and one mission to Mars.
The Human Rated Launch Vehicle is an ongoing programme by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop the technology needed to launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low Earth orbit. Three uncrewed flights, named Gaganyaan-1, Gaganyaan-2 and Gaganyaan-3 are scheduled to launch in 2024, followed by crewed flight in 2024 on an HLVM3 rocket.
The Space Capsule Recovery Experiment is an Indian experimental spacecraft which was launched at 03:53 UTC on January 10, 2007, from Sriharikota by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The launch was conducted using the C7 launch of the PSLV rocket, along with three other satellites. It remained in orbit for 12 days before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere and splashing down into the Bay of Bengal at 04:16 UTC on January 22.
The Ministry of Science and Technology is the Indian government ministry charged with formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to science and technology in India.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is a department within the Ministry of Science and Technology in India. It was established in May 1971 to promote new areas of science and technology and to play the role of a nodal department for organising, coordinating and promoting scientific and technological activities in the country. It gives funds to various approved scientific projects in India. It also supports various researchers in India to attend conferences abroad and to go for experimental works.
Gaganyaan is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capabilities. In its maiden crewed mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s largely autonomous 5.3-metric ton capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km altitude for up to seven days with a two- or three-person crew on board. The first crewed mission was originally planned to be launched on ISRO's HLVM3 rocket in December 2021. As of October 2023, it is expected to be launched by 2025.
The Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB) is an autonomous institution of education, training and research established under the auspices of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Department of Biotechnology. The Parliament has passed the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016 to provide statutory status to the existing institution. Dr. Arvind Sahu is the executive director of RCB.
Maharaj Kishan Bhan was an Indian pediatrician and clinical scientist. He received M.B.B.S. Degree (1969) from Armed Forces Medical College, Pune and M.D. Degree from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh. He carried out extensive post doctoral research at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the areas of diarrheal diseases and child nutrition with an emphasis on public health issues. He served as the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER).
Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL), New Delhi was incorporated as public limited company in 1990 under The Companies Act, 1956. The consortium is promoted by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and financed by the All India Financial Institutions and some corporate sectors. BCIL's major functions include the development and transfer of technology for the commercialisation of biotechnology products, project consultancy, biosafety awareness and human resource development.
Tilak Raj Sharma is an Indian plant biologist, the Deputy Director General (CS) of ICAR and former executive director and chief executive officer of the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), and Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB) respectively, both autonomous institutes under the Department of Biotechnology. Known for his studies in the fields of genomics and plant disease resistance, Sharma is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2007.
Anurag Agrawal is an Indian pulmonologist, medical researcher, Dean of the Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University, and the former director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, a CSIR institution. Known for his studies on lung diseases, Agrawal has been a senior fellow of the DBT-Wellcome Trust. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Medical Sciences in 2014. He is also a recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology which he received in 2015 and the 2020 Sun Pharma Science Foundation award in Medical Sciences.
Debasisa Mohanty is an Indian computational biologist, bioinformatician and a staff scientists at the National Institute of Immunology, India. Known for his studies on structure and function prediction of proteins, genome analysis and computer simulation of biomolecular systems, Mohanty is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2009.
Ganesan Venkatasubramanian is an Indian psychiatrist and clinician-scientist who works as a professor of psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore (NIMHANS). His overarching research interest to learn the science that will facilitate a personalized approach to understand and treat severe mental disorders like schizophrenia. Venkatasubramanian is known for his studies in the fields of schizophrenia, transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), brain imaging, neuroimmunology, neurometabolism and several other areas of biological psychiatry. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to medical sciences in 2018. He was also one of the collaborating scientists in the NIMHANS-IOB Bioinformatics and Proteomics laboratory of the Institute of Bioinformatics (IOB) in Bangalore and NIMHANS. Besides, he is an adjunct faculty at the Centre for Brain Research (CBR) in Bangalore.
The Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) is a body under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to coordinate the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The agency will be responsible for implementation of the Gaganyaan project. The first crewed flight is planned for 2024 on a home-grown LVM3 rocket.
Dr. Renu Swarup is an Indian geneticist and former Secretary, Government of India, formerly heading the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology. She has actively contributed in the formulation of India's Biotechnology Vision and Strategy. She is credited with the establishment of India's largest microbial resource centre, Microbial Culture Collection.
Genome India Project (GIP) is a research initiative led by the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science's Centre for Brain Research and involves over 20 universities across the country in an effort to gather samples, compile data, conduct research, and create an ‘Indian reference genome' grid.
Krishnarajanagar Nagappa Ganesh is an Indian bio-organic chemist and served as the (founding) director of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati since 2017 till 2023. He is also the founding director of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, that was established in 2006 and served the office till 2017. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in chemical sciences (1998) for "his outstanding contribution towards the understanding of the chemical principles of DNA molecular recognition and for his work on various facets of DNA structure and its interaction with drugs and proteins". He is also a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy since 2000.
The Institute of Bioinformatics, often referred to as IOB, is an Indian not-for-profit academic research organization based in Bangalore, India. It is involved in research in the fields of bioinformatics, multi-omics, systems biology and neurological disorders. In 2002, the institute was set up by The Genomics Research Trust and the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, Maryland. This organization is recognized as a 'Scientific and Industrial Research Organization' (SIRO) of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India. Renowned Proteomicist Akhilesh Pandey, Professor at Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Center for Individualized Medicine of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA is the Founding and current Director of IOB, and eminent Proteomicist Ravi Sirdeshmukh, Founder President of the 'Proteomic Society of India' is the current Associate Director of IOB.
The Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (BRIC) is a research and development (R&D) organisation dedicated to advancing biotechnology through research, innovation, and development. Established in 2023 by bringing autonomous institutes under the Department of Biotechnology under one umbrella organization. BRIC is established as autonomous body under the aegis of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. It with the aim of fostering collaboration between academic institutions, research organizations, and industry, BRIC plays a crucial role in addressing global challenges across healthcare, agriculture, environmental sustainability, and industrial biotechnology.
