From the Higgs Boson to a tiny frog

Did you know that some of Delhi Universities very own scientists were involved in the Higgs Boson project? Get to know everything about its star researchers, must-visit centres and events.

Did you know that some of Delhi Universities very own scientists were involved in the Higgs Boson project? Not only that, the identification of India’s smallest frog and development of a good mustard variety and silicon microstrip detectors … research work in the university has been yielding a rich harvest of discoveries.

An-undated-handout-graphic-distributed-on-by-CERN-in-Geneva-shows-a-representation-of-traces-of-traces-of-a-proton-proton-collision-measured-in-the-Compact-Muon-Solenoid-CMS-experience-in-the-search-for-the-Higgs-boson-Physicists-have-found-a-new-sub-atomic-particle-in-their-search-for-the-Higgs-boson-a-top-CERN-scientist-said-AFP-photo

So if you’ve joined one of the colleges here and want research to be the focus of your later academic career, do check out the research activity in the departments of physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, geology, microbiology, plant molecular biology, bio-chemistry, genetics, anthropology and mathematicsIn the CSIR-National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTDS) 2011 report, Delhi University was ranked No 1 among top 50 Indian varsities based on publication (1998-2008). In the India S&T 2010-11 report of the NISTDS, DU was among 23 Indian institutions which churned out more than 1000 papers each. The same report shows it’s one of the country’s most productive universities in science and technology.

Here’s a look at some of the research work done in DU

Chemistry: Its major areas of research are computational chemistry, biopolymers, physical chemistry of polymers, organic synthesis, apart from bio-transformations, chemical communications, etc

Microbiology: Its research areas include food and industrial microbiology, environmental microbiology, agricultural microbiology, medical microbiology, clinical microbiology, genetic engineering, among others

Genetics: Its research interests are molecular genetic improvement of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, and biocontrol bacteria, peptide antibiotic production by lactic acid bacteria, development of transgenic rice, cotton, mustard and vegetables resistant to diseases, pests, environment stresses, modification of fatty acids, delayed fruit ripening and induction of male sterility; multigene engineering in tomato and brinjal for stress tolerance; identification of susceptibility genes for complex traits such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis etc; Novel gene(s) identification for X-Linked mental retardation and Parkinson’s disease etc.

Zoology: Its current research work involves animal physiology, animal behaviour, aquaculture, cancer biology, computational biology, endocrinology, genomics and metagenomics, evolution and biodiversity.

Botany: Thrust areas include developmental and reproductive biology; proteomics and genetics; physiology and biochemistry; plant biotechnology; systematics and ecology; plant-microbe/plant-pest interaction; biodiversity conservation and evolutionary biology; climate change and abiotic stress