The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has selected the Department of Animal Biology in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) for the level-II support of “Fund for Improvement of S&T infrastructure in universities & higher educational institutions’ (FIST) grants to the tune of Rs:2.85 crores for a period of five years (third award for the department). This sanction of the DST is to strengthen post-graduate teaching and research at the Department of Animal Biology and to extend major facilities viz. Covaris acoustics DNA Fragmentation Device, QubetFluorometer, Bio-analyzer, NGS Platform support with accessories, multi-mode Plate Reader, Software upgradation and Lasers for existing FACS etc.
The DST-FIST support under the Level-II is given to internationally competitive institutions which are into Teaching & Academic Research. The Animal Biology department at UoH has been further considered for the grant based on its performance, and the amount of Extra-mural Research grants received in the last five years. The Department has earlier received funding under DST-FIST for the period 2010 – 2015 (Rs. 2.4 crores) after the first award for Rs. 65 lakhs (2003-2008). The Department possesses reputed faculty who have independent funding from various National (DST, DBT, CSIR, UGC, ICMR, DRDO) and International Funding Agencies and Biotechnology industries.
The Department offers M.Sc in Animal Biotechnology and imparts, in addition to the structured four-semester theoretical courses, hands-on training for the students of the course in state-of-art laboratory facilities. The department has an active PhD program. It has a strong research program with infrastructural support from the Department of Science and Technology under Funds for Infrastructure in Science and Technology (FIST) program and under the UGC-CAS (Centre for Advanced Studies) program for the School of Life Sciences.