School of Natural Sciences
Department of Life Sciences
Ph.D. Admissions Announcement: Spring 2025
Ph.D. in Life Sciences / Ph.D. in Bioinformatics

(ONLY FOR CANDIDATES HOLDING - CSIR-UGC NET-JRF & DBT-JRF, INSPIRE)

The Department of Life Sciences in the School of Natural Sciences at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (Deemed to be University), Delhi-NCR, invites applications for admission to the Ph.D. program for the Spring semester (Jan 2025).

In the current semester PhD positions are only available for candidates who have secured their own fellowships through CSIR-UGC NET-JRF & DBT-JRF, INSPIRE etc. University has the right to increase or decrease the number of seats at any time.

Research in the Department of Life Sciences is multifaceted, with a major focus on the areas of

  • Cancer Biology
  • Virology
  • Cell Signaling 
  • Epigenetics
  • Neuroscience
  • Bioinformatics
  • Plant Biology
  • Bacterial Morphogenesis and Biofilms
  • Protein Folding and Stress Response 
  • Chromatin remodeling factors and nuclear receptor signaling
  • Protein Structure Biology
  • Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
  • Noncoding RNA & gene regulation 
  • Developmental Biology 
  • Regeneration Biology
  • Vascular development, Lymphatic transdifferentiation
  • Immunology
  • Animal Behavior

Many of our research projects are interdisciplinary, involving collaborations with other Departments/Schools/Centers of the University. Detailed descriptions of the research areas of each faculty member can be found at https://lsci.snu.edu.in/people/faculty.

The candidates who have fellowships through CSIR-UGC NET-JRF, INSPIRE, ICMR, DBT-JRF, etc., may join any research laboratory based on the seat’s availability as per the UGC guidelines. The university has the right to increase or decrease the number of seats at any time.

Interested candidates must complete their online application and submit a copy of the completed form via email to [email protected] with the subject heading “Application for the Ph.D. program in Life Sciences” or “Application for the Ph.D. program in Bioinformatics.” Additionally, you are requested to provide one reference letter to support your candidature during the interview.

Selection Process

Candidates with CSIR-JRF, UGC-NET-JRF, INSPIRE, ICMR, DBT-JRF or equivalent fellowships are eligible for direct interview. Eligible candidates will be intimated for appearing in an online interview on the dates mentioned below.

Important Dates 

Last date for online application

10th December 2024

Notification (via email) to the eligible candidates for online Interview

12th December 2024

Online interview (for shortlisted candidates)

18th – 20th December 2024 

Any changes in the interview date will be notified via email.

The date for Ph.D. registration for the Spring session is 6th January 2025, and classes start on 13th January 2025.

Eligibility

Candidates with their own fellowships through CSIR-UGC NET-JRF & DBT-JRF, INSPIRE etc. are only eligible to apply. Additionally, the candidate should have a master’s degree in any areas of Life Sciences/Bioinformatics or M. Tech in relevant areas, with a minimum of 60% marks or an equivalent grade point.

After the online submission, a copy of the completed application form should be sent by email to [email protected]

Application Instructions:

All interested applicants should apply online by clicking the “Apply Now” button at the bottom of this page. Please follow the instructions carefully.

  • Fill all the mandatory fields
  • Upload the following documents online:
  • Passport size color photograph
  • Current CV
  • All Mark sheets/Degree Certificates (Bachelors and Masters)
  • Standardized Examination/Fellowship Certificate- CSIR, UGC, INSPIRE, ICMR, etc. (if applicable)
  • A Statement of Purpose

After the online submission, a copy of the completed application form should be sent by email to [email protected]

Please make provision for at least one reference letter in support of your application. The reference letter can also be sent to the same email address.

Application Fees: You must pay non-refundable application fees of Rs. 1,200 (One Thousand Two Hundred Only) by credit/debit card. Candidate may note that the University reserves the right to accept or reject any application based on its departmental screening criteria; hence, not all applications may be shortlisted for interview. Therefore, no requests for a refund of the application fee shall be entertained whether or not the candidate is called for an interview.

Fees and Assistantship

Fees and Financial Assistance: Detailed information about the fee structure and the nature of assistantships is available on the website. All full-time Ph.D. students admitted into the program shall receive a doctoral award (teaching and research assistantship) consisting of a tuition-fee waiver (as per department) and a monthly stipend of ₹40,000 for the first two years and ₹45,000 for the next three years, subject to benchmarked performance. Apart from this, A research grant of INR 1,50,000 (One Lakh fifty thousand) is available for students to be used for conference (only Scopus indexed) travel (domestic and/or international) during the 5-year period of PhD program. The continuation of the award is subject to satisfactory performance in the program evaluated continuously and compliance with all University regulations. Please note that students with CSIR, UGC, INSPIRE, and ICMR fellowships shall receive a 100% tuition fee waiver. Support will be available for deserving Ph.D. students to disseminate their work through conferences and publications.

For any queries related to the application and admission, you may contact: 

Mr. Anil Kumar Shukla, Senior Administrative Assistant, Department of Life Sciences. 

Email: [email protected] Telephone: 0120-7170100 Extn: 654

Please note that the application will only be considered with all the necessary prescribed documents and the application fee. For any application and admission process queries, write to the above-given Email ID. 

About Life Sciences Department:

Many of our research projects are interdisciplinary, involving collaborations across the globe. Detailed descriptions of the research interests of our faculty and other information is provided on the Departmental websites: https://snu.edu.in/departments/department-of-life-sciences/; https://lsci.snu.edu.in/research/laboratories

Research Infrastructure: The laboratories of the Department of Life Sciences and School of Natural Sciences are well equipped with state-of-the-art research facilities and equipment, including a Next Generation Sequencing facilities, Flow cytometer and sorter, Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope, Spinning disk microscope, Real-Time PCR, Advanced Fluorescence Microscopes including live imaging, Culture facilities (BSL-2) for Mammalian cells, Parasites and Viruses, BSL-3 laboratory, and a central instrumentation facility comprising LC-MS, XRD, AFM, CD-Spectrophotometer, MST, Raman spectrometer, Luminometer, ultracentrifuge, etc. A state-of-the-art SPF animal facility was inaugurated in January 2024. This facility will house multiple animal models and is equipped for generating genome-edited animals. The computational facilities include a high-performance IBM cluster (“Magus”) consisting of 57 compute nodes (8064 cores) with a total capacity of 320 TFlops of Theoretical Peak Performance. Additionally, several stand-alone Linux workstations are used for teaching and research. Several Bioinformatics and Cheminformatics analysis software are also available. Center for Excellence in Epigenetics is affiliated with the Department of Life Sciences, which houses state-of-the-art facilities for epigenetics, genomics, proteomics, and drug discovery studies. 

About Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi-NCR

Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi-NCR, is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric institution bringing a paradigm shift in higher education in India through its innovative curriculum, interdisciplinary focus, and cross-disciplinary thinking across various disciplines. The University is building an eco-system of knowledge to promote recognition of the interconnectedness of ideas, systems, and environments in the world inside the campus and outside it. The University has 5 Schools, 24 Departments, and 8 Research Centers engaged in teaching, practice, and research in disciplines as diverse as Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Management, Natural Sciences, Art, Design, Performing Arts, Communication, and Extended Education and Professional Development. The schools offer Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees along with a multidisciplinary curriculum to enable students to explore subjects and disciplines that may be widely different from their chosen Majors. 

The University has been selected as one of the ten private “Institutions of Eminence” by the Government. In the NIRF (Government’s National Institutional Ranking Framework), SNIoE is the youngest institution on the ‘top 100’ overall list, and our score has risen steadily. In NIRF-2021, SNIoE ranked 56 in the ‘University’ category. We are also among a selected group of green-field institutions in the country that was awarded the prestigious Atal Incubation Center grant by the Niti Aayog, Government of India, in the first round in 2017.