The microbiology department at M.S. University Baroda was established in 1964. The backbone of the department is its intellectual rigour maintained by the dedicated faculty and students who come from all over the country. By 2003, the department had produced 90 PhDs. Many research papers from this institute are regularly published in journals of international repute.

The alumni of the department occupy positions of great responsibility in different institutions in India and abroad. The broad areas of research are: molecular biology and genetic engineering, microbiology, bioprocess engineering and immunology.

The department of microbiology and biotechnology conducts a two-year postgraduate programme leading to an MSc in microbiology. It includes fundamental courses in biochemistry, microbiology and molecular biology and proceeds to a thorough study of the selected area of specialisation. The department also offers a PhD in microbiology.

Application forms are available from the university in the first week of June. Completed forms are accepted till mid-June. The contact details are: Department of microbiology and biotechnology, M.S. University of Baroda, 390002. Website: www.bcmsu.ac.in. Phone: 0265 - 2794396

Eligibility

• You should have passed your BSc with physical, biological, or agricultural sciences with a minimum of 50 per cent marks.

Entrance exam

• Selection is done on the basis of an entrance test and an interview conducted by the university in the end of June or the first week of July. About 70 per cent of the seats are reserved for students from Gujarat.

Pattern of exam

• The questions in the entrance test are of objective type. Most of them are on biology and some are on chemistry. The test is of the graduate level.

How to prepare for the exam

• For biology, you could read up Introduction to Zoology by Jordan, Verma and Kotpal, Genetics by Gupta and B.D. Singh, and Botany by Pandey and Bandra Kumar. For chemistry, you may refer to books by Puri Sharma, Tuli and J.D. Lee.

Your concepts should be clear so that you can effectively answer the objective-type questions that usually assess your depth of understanding and analytical ability. Regular solving of practice question papers will give you accuracy with speed.

sample test paper

• Murant yeast is important to use in wine manufacture because:
(a) it has the agility to do complete fermentation (b) it has better sedimentation properties (c) it has higher alcohol tolerance (d) all of the above

• Almost all bones provide support and protection but which one of the following is entirely different?
(a) malleus (b) radius (c) rib (d) atlas vertebra

• A congenital disease is:
(a) kala azar (b) measles (c) meningitis (d) sickle cell anaemia

• Albinism is:
(a) autosomal disorder (b) sex chromosomal disorder (c) both (d) none

• The similarity between RNA and DNA is that they
(a) are double stranded (b) are polymers of nucleotides (c) have similar pyrimidines (d) have similar sugars

• All arteries carry oxygenated blood except
(a) systemic (b) hepatic (c) pulmonary (d) none of these

• After vaccination, the body builds up:
(a) toxins (b) antibodies (c) haemoglobin (d) all of these