I study science in Class XI. Eventually, I want to pursue research in synthetic biology. Where can I study undergraduate and postgraduate courses? Are there any scholarships available for studying the subject abroad?

Scientific research pushes the boundaries and turns what is science fiction today into reality tomorrow. Synthetic biology, like many other sciences, is an interdisciplinary subject that allows teams of microbiologists, biotechnologists, engineers and computer scientists to work side by side to produce biofuels, industrial enzymes, vaccines and so on. Engineering principles are used on biological systems to create novel genomes and standardised synthetic DNAs. However, before you can go into studying novel methods, you will need to develop an expertise in the basic sciences. After Plus Two, you can opt to get your bachelor’s and master’s degrees in subjects such as biology, zoology, biochemistry, life sciences, pharmacy, molecular biology, biotechnology or biomedical engineering.

After that, you can decide to get a doctoral degree in synthetic biology or a related field. In India, some institutes such as the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology at JNU, New Delhi, offer a PhD in systems and synthetic biology. We also have specialised departments such as the one of systems and synthetic biology at the BoseInstitute at Calcutta.