Introduction

Since its establishment in 1969, the Department of Biosciences has fot rayed into diverse research fields such as biodiversity, fresh water, marine and estuarine ecology, biology of fungi, algae, cyanobacteria, pill-millipedes, mussels, fish, physiology, environmental biology, cancer biology, genotoxicology, neuroscience etc. This has been possible due to its strategic location between the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats and the Netravathi and Gurpur rivers flowing into the Arabian Sea to the West. Further, being in the vicinity of medical institutions has also geared our focus towards application-based research in bio-medical science. This research enterprise has also moulded the teaching and enabled need-based modifications in the curriculum that enable the student to learn current trends in the field of Life Sciences.

Department Mission

• To constitute a platform for the nurturing of academic excellence through a mutually enriching teaching-learning experience.
• To equip our students with skill-based expertise and technical know-how in the field of basic and applied Life Sciences.
• To contribute through fundamental and innovative research to knowledge generation and applications.
• To evolve strategies for implementation of innovations for the benefit of the society.
• To envisage the development of the Department to a National Centre of importance through human resource development. state-of-the-art infrastructure, academic and research exchange and innovative research.

The Post Graduate Department of Biosciences was started as the PG Centre of Mysore University at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore in July 1969. The department was later shifted to the present campus, Mangalagangothri during November 1972. In 1980, the PG Centre was elevated to an independent university and formed the nascent Mangalore University. The Department has been offering M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs in Biosciences encompassing different areas of plant, animal and microbial sciences. After becoming part of Mangalore University (September 1980), the department initiated two more postgraduate programs in Applied Botany and Applied Zoology (1988) which later became independent departments (1994). A one-year postgraduate diploma in Environmental Science was initiated (1994) and it was upgraded to M.Sc. in 1999. In 2006 the postgraduate program in Biotechnology was started. The Department also offered M.Phil. program in Biosciences from 1986 onwards. In 2014 the postgraduate program in Microbiology was begun. In 2016 MSc Food Science and Nutrition and in 2017 MSc Environmental Science were added. Currently the Department is offering five M.Sc. programs (Biosciences, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Food Science and Nutrition and Environmental Science) under choice-based credit system and three Ph.D. programs in Biosciences, Biotechnology and Food Science and Nutrition.

Research Grants and Collaborations

The Department of Biosciences has been recognized under the University Grants Commission (UGC) Special Assistance Program (SAP; 2016-2021) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) Fund for Improvement of Science and Technology Infrastructure (FIST; 2005-2009; 2015-2020).

The Department has attracted financial grants from leading national and international agencies: UGC, Department of Ocean Development (DOD), DST, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) and Salford University (UK).

Faculty members have collaborations with international institutes such as University of Salford, UK; Mount Allison University, Canada; University of Braga, Portugal; Martin Luther University, Germany; Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany; National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan; University of Tsukuba, Japan; Universiti Sains, Malaysia; King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Thailand, University of Bielefeld, Germany, University of Regensburg, Germany and Philips University, Germany

Eminent Faculty

For the Department to come to the present state in terms of academics, research, facilities and infrastructure, our former Professors and Chairpersons, notably Prof. M. Abdul Rahiman, Prof. K. M. Kaveriappa, Prof. M.N. Madhyastha, Prof. S. N. Hegde, Prof. M. Jayaram Hedge, Prof. M. Krishnamoorthy, Prof. B. Abdul Rahiman, Prof. K. R. Sridhar and Prof. M. Rajashekhar have contributed a great deal through their vision and hard work.

Our former faculty member Prof. K. R. Sridhar, who continued as UGC-BSR Fellow and Adjunct Faculty has been ranked as one among the top 2% of the world’s scientists in as subject-wise ranking carried out by the University of Stanford scientists in the field of Mycology in 2020. He has been honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mycological Society of India in 2019. He has a h-index of 43 and i10 index of 181.

Our former esteemed Professors have achieved excellence in their careers as Vice-Chancellors to Kannur/Calicut Universities (Prof. M. Abdul Rahiman), University of Mysore (Prof. S.N. Hegde) and Mangalore University (Prof. K.M. Kaveriappa).