Doctor of Philosophy Programme (DBS)
PhD Advertisement for Spring 2026 semester (DBS)
Applications are invited from eligible candidates for admission to the Ph.D.
program of the Department of Biological Sciences, IISER Kolkata. The details of
the admission process are given below. Applicants are advised to go through the
research areas available at the following link on the Institute website
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/) as well as the
department page (http://bio.iiserkol.ac.in/?page_id=5624).
The fields of research open to application in this round of Ph.D. selections are
given below, along with names of faculty members working in the respective
fields:
Inter-disciplinary Biology: For students interested to work in the areas of One
Health, Microplastic in food and environment, microbial engineering, applied
microbiology, extremophiles, enzyme technologies, synthetic biology and
antimicrobial resistance
Sunil Kumar Khare (E-mail: skkhare@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://bio.iiserkol.ac.in/?page_id=1949) in collaboration with
Supratim Datta (E-mail: supratim@iiserkol.ac.in) (https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/supratim/)
Amirul Islam Mallick (E-mail: amallick@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/amallick/)
Punyasloke Bhadury (E-mail: pbhadury@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/pbhadury/)
Biophysics, Biochemistry, and Structural Biology: For students interested in
Cellular Biophysics, Structural Biology, cryo-EM, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR),
Molecular Biophysics, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry/Chemical Biology,
Structural Proteomics, Cell Signaling, Structure based Drug Designing, Drug
Development, Drug Delivery, Molecular Medicine, Peptide based therapeutics
against Cancer targeting oncogenic signalling pathways, Peptide-based Immunocombination therapy, Targeted therapy for Cancer, Ischemic Disease, Bleeding
Disorder, Cancer Nanomedicine and Regenerative Nanomedicine, Clinical
Proteomics of biological fluids and tissues from patient sample, Imaging of
clinically important molecules in human tissues
Amit Kumar Mandal (E-mail: amitkm@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/amitkm/)
Bidisha Sinha (E-mail: bidisha.sinha@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/%7Ebidisha.sinha/)
Neelanjana Sengupta (E-mail: n.sengupta@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/n-sengupta/)
Partha Pratim Datta (E-mail: partha_datta@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/partha_datta/)
Rahul Das (E-mail: rahul.das@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/rahul-das/)
Rituparna Sinha Roy (E-mail: rituparna@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/rituparna/)
Theoretical biophysics, Mathematical Biology and Soft Matter Physics: For
students from physics/mathematics background interested in biological physics,
non-equilibrium phase transitions, and stochastic models in biology.
Dipjyoti Das (E-mail: dipjyoti.das@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/dipjyoti-das/)
Neelanjana Sengupta (E-mail: n.sengupta@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/n-sengupta/)
Cell Biology and Protein Biochemistry: For students interested in Actin Binding
protein in cell migration and diseases.
Sankar Maiti (E-mail: spm@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/spm/)
Developmental and Stem Cell Biology: For students interested in Mesenchymal
Stem cell biology and Metazoan Morphogenesis.
Malancha Ta (E-mail: malancha.ta@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/malancha-ta/)
Mohit Prasad (E-mail: mohitprasad@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/mohitprasad/)
Disease Biology: For students interested in Virology, Immunology, Epigenetics
and Chromatin Biology, Gene Regulation, Neural Cell Biology, Neuroscience,
Lysosome Biology and related Diseases, Natural Killer cells, Immunotherapy,
Cancer, Infectious Diseases, Peptide based therapeutics against Cancer targeting
oncogenic signalling pathways, Peptide-based Immuno-combination therapy,
Targeted therapy for Cancer, Ischemic Disease, Bleeding Disorder, Antimicrobial
Resistance (AMR) and One Health, Molecular Basis of Stress Response, Drug
Development, Drug Delivery, Molecular Medicine, Cancer Nanomedicine and
Regenerative Nanomedicine, Clinical Proteomics of biological fluids and tissues
from patient sample, Imaging of clinically important molecules in human tissues
Amirul Islam Mallick (E-mail: amallick@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/amallick/)
Amit Kumar Mandal (E-mail: amitkm@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/amitkm/)
Jayasri Das Sarma (E-mail: dassarmaj@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/dassarmaj/)
Partha Pratim Datta (E-mail: partha_datta@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/partha_datta/)
Rahul Das (E-mail: rahul.das@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/rahul-das/)
Rituparna Sinha Roy (E-mail: rituparna@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/rituparna/)
Rupak Datta (E-mail: rupakdatta@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/rupakdatta/)
Sumit Sen Santara (E-mail: sumit.santara@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/sumitsantara/#gsc.tab=0)
( PI: Jayasri Das Sarma ) : Neurovirology, Neuroimmunology and Neurobiology of
the Diseases and Cancer Biology
a) Nexus between Virus-induced neuroinflammation and gap junction
intercellular communication to understand the mechanism of virus-induced
Neurodegeneration and finding parallels between the human neurological
disease multiple sclerosis and SARS-CoV-2 mediated neuropathogenesis.
b) Understanding the Synergistic effect of age associated stressors in driving
chronic inflammation and modulating Gap Junction Intercellular
Communication in Pre-clinical Experimental mouse cohort.
c) Therapeutic approaches in combating glioblastoma and cervical and ovarian
cancers.
d) Biology-Chemistry interphase work - focusing on creating therapeutic agents
that can interact with specific biological targets to modulate disease
pathways specially cancer.
Jayasri Das Sarma (E-mail: dassarmaj@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/dassarmaj/)
Microbiology and Marine Biology: For students interested in Marine
Microbiology, Climate Change and Ocean Acidification, Microbial Ecology,
Community and Ecosystem Ecology, Restoration Ecology, Biodiversity
Conservation, Wildlife Habitat Management, and Bioremediation.
Amirul Islam Mallick (E-mail: amallick@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/amallick/)
Partha Pratim Datta (E-mail: partha_datta@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/partha_datta/)
Punyasloke Bhadury (E-mail: pbhadury@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/pbhadury/)
Robert John Chandran (E-mail: robert.john@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/robert-john/)
Synthetic Biology and Biotherapeutics: For students interested in synthetic biology
and Biotherapeutics in the area of Cancer biology, Peptide based therapeutics
against Cancer targeting oncogenic signalling pathways, Peptide-based Immunocombination therapy, Targeted therapy for Cancer, Regenerative medicine,
Diabetic Wound Healing, Bleeding Disorder, Therapeutic Peptide Engineering.
Supratim Datta (E-mail: supratim@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/supratim/)
Rituparna Sinha Roy (E-mail: rituparna@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/rituparna/)
Theoretical and Computational Biology: For students interested in any branch of
Theoretical Biology, including Computational Biophysics, Multiscale Molecular
Simulations, AI/ML based model development, Bioinformatics, and
Computational Cell Biology and cryo-EM Image Processing
Dipjyoti Das (Email: dipjyoti.das@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/dipjyoti-das/)
Neelanjana Sengupta (E-mail: n.sengupta@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/n-sengupta/)
Partha Pratim Datta (E-mail: partha_datta@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/partha_datta/)
Rituparna Sinha Roy (E-mail: rituparna@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/rituparna/)
Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution: For students interested in Animal Behaviour,
Community Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation, Marine Microbiology,
Microbial Ecology, Chemical Ecology, and Plant- insect Interactions.
Annagiri Sumana (E-mail: sumana@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/sumana/)
Anuradha Bhat (E-mail: anuradhabhat@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/anuradhabhat/)
Punyasloke Bhadury (E-mail: pbhadury@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/pbhadury/)
Radhika Venkatesan (E-mail: rv@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/rv/)
Robert John Chandran (E-mail: robert.john@iiserkol.ac.in)
(https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/web/en/people/faculty/dbs/robert-john/)
Project-Sponsored Ph.D. Positions Available in Prof. Punyasloke Bhadury’s
Laboratory
Two project-funded Ph.D. positions are available in the Integrative Taxonomy and
Microbial Ecology Research Group (PI- Professor Punyasloke Bhadury) to work on
emerging pollutants (e.g. microplastic), in addition to nitrogen based pollutants
and their effects on functional biodiversity (e.g. microbiome, fish) across aquatic
ecosystems (e.g. freshwater wetlands, rivers and lagoons) and functional
microbiomes in wetlands.
Essential qualifications: Master’s degree in Life Science/Zoology/Fisheries/Natural
Science/Biotechnology/Environmental Science/Microbiology or Agricultural
Science from a recognized University or equivalent with minimum 55% marks.
Candidates need to qualify NET-LS/NET-JRF (category II/III)/GATE/ICAR-NET/ DBTJRF (Category B) or any other national exam.
Additional criteria: Experience in aquatic ecology, field work exposure on aquatic
ecosystems, previous experience working with emerging pollutants (e.g.
microplastic), and basic knowledge in genomics highly desirable.
Interested candidates are encouraged to e-mail to Prof. Punyasloke Bhadury
(E-mail: pbhadury@iiserkol.ac.in)
Note: Only those faculty members whose names are given above will accept
students through this round of Ph.D. admissions. Therefore, before applying,
students should check this list carefully to ensure that labs of their interest are
available for admission in this round.
Minimum Eligibility Criteria
Masters' (or B.E., B.Tech., M.Tech., MBBS) degree holders or equivalent (with
minimum 55% marks) in any branch of science, including Physics, Chemistry,
Mathematics, Biological Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Ecology and
Environmental Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Engineering or
equivalent.
A relaxation of 5% marks or its equivalent grade may be allowed for those
belonging to SC/ST/OBC (non- creamy layer)/Differently-Abled, Economically
Weaker Section (EWS) and other categories of candidates.
Students whose final results in Master's or equivalent are yet to be declared can
also apply. However, if selected, the offer for these students will be provisional,
subject to fulfilling the above criteria at the time of admission.
AND
Applicants must have any one of the following qualifications.
Qualified a National Level Eligibility Examination that provides a 5-year PhD
fellowship such as CSIR–JRF (Category I) / UGC–JRF (Category I) / DBT–JRF–
A / ICMR–JRF / DBT–BINC–JRF / Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship/ National
Fellowship for Scheduled Caste Students by CSIR-UGC / National
Fellowship for Higher Education of ST Students / National Fellowship for
OBC Candidates / National Fellowship for persons with disabilities
(NFPWD).
The aforementioned fellowships must be valid on August 31, 2026.
Students with 4 Years bachelor's degree with 75% marks and having their
own fellowship (CSIR, UGC etc.) now are eligible for the PhD Programme
of IISER Kolkata
Shortlisting and Interview Process
Please note that fulfilling the minimum essential criteria does not ensure
shortlisting for interviews. The PIs in DBS may set additional shortlisting criteria
based on the candidates' academic records, experience, and research
experience.
Only those candidates who have been shortlisted for the interview stages will
be informed of further details. Therefore, all candidates are requested to check
this page (https://apply.iiserkol.ac.in/phd/) regularly for updates.
Few important points:
1. PhD Candidates can select only those faculty members as potential
supervisors whose names are given in the advertisement.
2. Candidates are requested to provide their personal cell no. and personal e-mail
address while filling up the PhD application form. It cannot be your guardian’s cell
no. or e-mail address.
3. Candidates are requested to send their queries to “PhD Helpdesk for DBS
" with a copy to potential supervisor.
6. Candidates are requested not to choose “No Specific Choice” in place of
potential PhD supervisor. You need to choose your potential PhD supervisor’s
name among the faculty members’ names given in the advertisement.
7. You can download the recommendation letter format using this link:
https://apply.iiserkol.ac.in/phd/reco-format.pdf
8. If you are not able to submit your application, you are requested to send your
queries to “PhD Helpdesk for DBS " with a
copy to potential supervisor and mention this phrase in the subject line “Facing
problem in submitting the PhD application form”.
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