Genetic engineering refers to genetically modifying and altering any organism or plant for attaining the desired results for our benefit. It is a background of immense research and scope leading to unimaginable developments that can change the way we deal with lives in the future. Though huge opportunities are lying behind it, we are yet to explore them. Very few aspirants get a chance to develop a career in this field due to limited research and hi-tech laboratories in India. However, the demand for this prospect is growing day by day especially after the pandemic struck the world, leading to more research and development.
What is Genetic Engineering?
It involves dealing with micro-organisms, manipulating the gene expression of the organisms by adding, deleting, and substituting certain genes to observe desired traits. A recent achievement in this field was the development of CRISPR technology which won the Nobel Prize in 2020. It can lead to new life-changing inventions that will benefit not only a few but the entire world (just like the COVID-19 vaccine did!). It is completely research-oriented and demands a lot more hard work, patience, and dedication to yield results than any other job. It has much importance in research, medicine development, drug manufacturing, industries, pharmaceutics, and agriculture.
How to pursue it as a career?
Genetic Engineering is a specialized field in Biotechnology, so any Bachelors course related to Biosciences and Bioengineering apart from Bachelors in Genetic Engineering (as it is provided by only a few institutes) can allow you to pursue this as your career. LPU offers BSc, BSc. (Hons) and BTech courses in Bioengineering and Biosciences and also the Masters- MSc., MSc (Hons)., MTech, and Ph.D. courses. Besides, LPU has the best lab facilities and instruments to conduct different experiments and research without interruption.
As it is a field based on genetics, you can specialize in any particular sub-field like Human Genetics, Microbial Genetics, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Genomics, Classical and Clinical Genetics.
Pursuing Genetic Engineering as a career opens up more responsibilities and possibilities of growing your computational knowledge along with your deep knowledge in the biological field and allows you to develop a better future for the upcoming generations.
