Career opportunities in Genetic Engineering

Career opportunities in Genetic Engineering
Monday June 23 2008 16:47 IST Kalavathi Amarachelvam for EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

I am a BE (ECE) student from Chennai. I am interested in studying Nanotechnology course and wanted to pursue a career in nanotechnology. Please help me with the name and details of training centres in Chennai. —Ramesh, Chennai

Nanotechnology, which is at a nascent stage now, has created a lot of ripples in the recent years. This is one of the most exciting research areas at present, which may lead to many great scientific and technological advances.

According to Nasscom, the worldwide need for Nanotechnology workers is expected to reach two million by 2015. Since you want to pursue a career in this field, you must be aware that you could get into the actual course on Nanotechnology only in your PG. So, you are on the right track with your BE degree. Anna University offers M Tech in Nanotechnology from this year. IIT, Chennai also offers course in Nanotechnology. Aappin Knowledge Solutions has a center in Chennai which offers certificate course in Nanotechnology through e-learning.



I have just completed my 12th standard and I would like to take up B Tech Biotechnology for higher studies. What course should I take up later to become a Genetic Engineer? What are the career prospects of genetic engineering and which are the institutes offering this course? What exactly does genetic engineering comprise of ? What will be the starting salary in the field?

—Rachana

Genetic Engineering means the deliberate modification of the characters of an organism by the manipulation of its genetic material.

Genetic Engineering (GE) is a highly complicated and advanced branch of science which involves a wide range of techniques used in changing the genetic material in the DNA code in a living organism. Genetic engineering comes under the broad heading of Biotechnology There is a great scope in .

this field as the demand for genetic engineers are growing in India as well as abroad.

In certain developed countries, there are openings for genetic counselors, but in India the concept of genetic counseling is not so widely known and most of the genetic counseling where necessary is being done by medical doctors themselves.

Genetics, like other fields of Biotechnology, is a field where you can’t expect a job immediately after your graduation or even at the PG level. So if you are prepared for long years of academic pursuit, have high analytical and mathematical skills and have a lot of patience and commitment to do prolonged research work, then this can be the career for you.

Some of the universities which offer genetic Engineering courses at postgraduate and doctorate levels are the Bio-Informatics Centre of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) New Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur and Delhi), Delhi University, University of Calcutta, MKUCoimbatore, Birla Institute of Technology (Pilani Rajasthan), University of Lucknow, Jadavpur University (Kolkata, West Bengal) etc.

As regards the salary at the entry level you may get anywhere between Rs 8000 to 20,000. But once you have gathered experience you will be much sought after.