History

 The Postgraduate and Research Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics was incepted in the year 2002 and has now stepped into its 21st year of reign of marking the arena, with the aim of promoting the young minds into advanced higher education and research professionals. In 2020, the Department was subsumed under School of Life Sciences and offers four programs in Biotechnology (B.Sc, M.Sc, M.Phil and Ph.D) and two programs in Bioinformatics (PGDBI and M.Sc Bioinformatics-5year integrated). The Department is successful in amalgamating the Life Sciences fields by establishing an advanced Molecular biology and Microbiology Laboratories and a Centralized Instrumentation Facility funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India under the FIST scheme. This facility satiates the researcher's aspirations by highly regulating the ongoing research that also extends the arena to staff and researchers of Life Science Departments from other institutions. The Department launched the Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (BIF) with the financial support of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India in the academic year 2006. Since its inception, the main attention of the Centre is on higher research along with Manpower development in Bioinformatics. The Department is recognized as Research Centre in Biotechnology by Bharathidasan University. Faculty pursue research in various fields including Phytotherapeutics, Diabetology, Cancer Biology, Microbiology, Neurobiology, Marine Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Small Molecule Synthesis, Bioinformatics, Systems Biology and Computer Aided Drug Designing.

The Department is fully equipped with sophisticated laboratories to provide better teaching and research ambiance for students, scholars and faculty. The laboratories encompass with the Molecular Biology Laboratory, Microbiology Laboratory ,Post Graduate Laboratory, Animal Cell Culture Facility, Plant Tissue Culture Facility, Animal House facility with ethical clearance, Centralized Instrumentation Facility, Bioinformatics Laboratory, Computational Facility with commercial software through which,

       - The Department has 4 Patent grants

       - 17 candidates have completed Ph D.

       - Projects completed-UGC Major Project (2012-2015) & Minor Project (2014-2016)

       - Active MoU’s for academic & research collaborations (Nyro Research Pvt Ltd, Kochi Kerala & Saveetha Dental College & Hospitals, Chennai)

       - The faculty and students of the Department has won 22 awards in research, academic, sports, fine arts and inter-collegiate completions.

       - Consistent in procuring University Ranks between 1-10

       - The alumnae of the Department are settled as Assistant Professors, Research associates and Post-Doctoral fellows in research Institutes and Industries in Singapore, Malaysia, United States, Australia, Germany, Thailand and various states of India, CEO’s and Directors of Company in India.

       - The faculty and students of our department are most active in perfuming activities and projects through HCIIC. Department has 2 Staff and 3 Student product based projects (Squad Potty, Frooto & Sanitary Napkin Dispenser).

Uniqueness

      The global insight of Biology, in this 21st century - which stands as a cipher for “INNOVATION ERA”, is being transformed from purely lab-based science to an information science as-well, called Bioinformatics, the field of science in which biology, computer science, and information technology amalgamates to form a single discipline. On this accord, it is noteworthy to say that India is the first country to establish a Biotechnology Information System (BTIS) network to create an infrastructure that enables it to harness, biotechnology through the application of Bioinformatics, back in 1987. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), has provided with an economic distributed network of this infrastructure development project. Holy Cross College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli, is one such Institution that allied with DBT, where a Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility(BIF) was established in 2006 with the financial support of DBT, New Delhi.

      This BIF Centre has successfully now encroached into its 16th year. The Centre is now being subsisted by DBT as Human Resource Development and Training Centre. Since its inception, the Centre has impregnated and invested the attention on higher research along with manpower development in the area of Bioinformatics. The Centre also pertinaciously extends its arena by providing with services in the areas of Computer Aided Drug Designing, Structural Bioinformatics, Database Development, Systems Biology and Molecular Modeling and propounds these computational facilities to the users from the neighboring Institutions and Universities. The Centre is profoundly accessible round the clock with a separate 200 Mbps internet facility with Optical Fibre Cabling and Wi-Fii to the faculty, research scholars and students. The staff of the Centre in co-ordination with the staff of the Research Department of Biotechnology performs research as well as teaching. The College is extending the Life Sciences Laboratory facilities for wet lab research in regards to Phytotherapeutics and also extends full support for the progression of the Centre.

Vision

       -To provide a versatile and protean platform by providing hands-on for Biotechnology education, training and research

       - To create a fairer, prosperous and zealous student community to excel profoundly in the arenas of Biosciences.

Mission

      To propel high quality Biotechnology education towards excellence and new greater heights in research and innovation.