Institute of Health Science
(Under the aegis of Presidency University, Kolkata, located at Newtown)

Institute of Health Science (IHS) is established at the second campus of Presidency University with a vision to integrate teaching, research and training in prediction, diagnosis, and management of emerging viral and infectious diseases.

. The primary objective of this institute is to generate trained manpower and research-based technology to strengthen the infrastructure of public healthcare in our state and the entire nation. The whole world has faced the crisis of public health during the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown the importance of biomedical preparedness. Such a dedicated institute for research and training in West Bengal was the need of the hour. Establishment of IHS became possible due to the active collaboration of Department of Health and Department of Higher Education, Govt. of West Bengal with Presidency University and the School of Biotechnology (SBT; https://www.presiuniv.ac.in/web/biotechnology.php), its newest department that was functioning at the second campus of Presidency University. SBT was initiated in 2019 with a group of faculty members of the department of life sciences at the newly established Newtown campus of the University. This campus consists of two centrally air-conditioned, 14-storey academic towers with a lush green field in the middle. The Department of Higher Education, Science & Technology and Biotechnology, Govt. of West Bengal generously funded to establish the basic infrastructure for post-graduate education, and sophisticated instruments for advanced research and hands-on training. The Department of Health, Govt. of West Bengal helped building an active collaboration of IHS with government hospitals for the purpose of research in the field of infectious diseases. The faculty members of IHS are pursuing research in diverse interdisciplinary fields pertaining to health sciences. IHS is replete with smart classrooms and spacious laboratories with required instruments. In addition to teaching and research, IHS aims to impart skill enhancement training to students and technicians to ultimately develop trained manpower in healthcare sectors starting from molecular diagnostics to epidemiological survey, in addition to biotechnology industry-ready human resources.

Salient features of the Institute of Health Science:

• Teaching programs conducted by a faculty with expertise in interdisciplinary areas of health sciences using state-of-the-art infrastructural facility and sophisticated instruments
• Hands-on training programs for science graduates and healthcare professionals in cutting-edge technologies
• Focused research of global importance in prediction, diagnosis, and management of human diseases and health.
• Biotechnology research and interventions

Courses offered by Institute of Health Science:

A. M.Sc. program ( Duration: 2 years)

1. M.Sc. in Biotechnology (Annual outcome- 20 students)

2. M.Sc. in Virology and Immunology (Annual outcome- 10 students)

3. M.Sc. in Molecular Microbiology (Annual outcome- 20 students)

Student intake: Undergraduate in any branches of life sciences and chemical sciences, and medical graduates

B. Short term certificate courses

• Certificate course on Molecular diagnostics; Duration- 8 weeks (Annual outcome- 10 students)
• Undergraduate Summer Research Program; Duration- 4-8 weeks (Annual outcome- 20-25 students)

Student intake: Undergraduate in any branches of life sciences and chemical sciences, and medical graduates

C. Value added courses

• Statistical Programming for Biologists (Annual outcome- 15 students)
• Biomedical Nanotechnology (Annual outcome- 15 students)
• Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design (Annual outcome- 15 students)
• RNA Therapeutics (Annual outcome- 15 students)
• Clinical Diagnostics (Annual outcome- 15 students)
• Microbial Quality Control & Testing (Annual outcome- 15 students)
• Hands-on workshop on Genome Editing in Disease Biology using CRISPR-Cas9 Tools (Annual outcome- 15 students)
• CRISPR/Cas9-based editing for crop improvement (Annual outcome- 15 students)

Student intake: Undergraduate in any branches of life sciences and chemical sciences, and medical graduates

D. PhD program in Science

Student intake: Postgraduate in any branches of life sciences or chemical sciences who qualifies any of the following- UGC-CSIR NET/ICMR-NET/DBT organized Biotechnology Entrance Test (BET)