Facilities

Classrooms

There are 3 UG labs (30, 16, 10 student capacity), 1 PG lab (20 student capacity) and 1 research lab (4 student capacity) in the department. The 2 UG labs are also used as classrooms when there are no practical periods going on. One PG lab and one UG lab is equipped with mic, LCD facilities, speaker and amplifier. For the comfort of students, these lab cum classrooms have been equipped with tube-lights and fans, benches and chairs, table, black board, projector screen. In addition to these the common classroom in colleges which are used during UG lectures are equipped with mic, projector, screen, speaker, amplifier, and CPU in addition to black and white boards. Some classrooms are equipped with advanced LCD systems. In addition to this, the department has one movable LCD projector, 2 laptops, 3 computers, 1 Ipad, 1 printer, 3 HDMI connectors, 5 advanced biometry time and attendance units, RGB cables, 3 intercom telephones, 6 ethernet LAN wires, botany department wifi, 2 staff rooms, 1 storage and preparation room for chemicals, 1 room for specimen storage and non-teaching staff.

Computing Equipment

The laptops are used for department work of writing reports, administrative and clerical work, academic work, using the internet, for emails, and for powerpoint presentations during lectures. In this way the laptops are used in multiple ways for teaching and learning. The printer is used for printing academic related material on a daily basis. The ipad is used for teaching purposes and as an interface for some advanced ecology sensors during practical and project work. There are 2 microscopes equipped with mobile phone cameras which are used for taking microscopic photography. The computers are used for other office work and for connecting the students biometric attendance units. Few softwares are also loaded on computers which help in academic work. The computers and laptops have licenced windows and antivirus loaded. The facility of internet and wifi is a great benefit, as through which the mobile phones, laptops and iPad can also be connected to the internet easily. The laptops and computers have a high storage capacity of 1TB.

Laboratories

There are 4 labs, of which 1 is commonly used by zoology and life-science departments. The other 2 UG labs and 1 PG lab is used for lectures when practical periods are over. The labs are equipped with benches, stools, chairs and desks. The labs are equipped with microscopes which are the most common of the instruments, in addition to sink and tap water supply. The other facilities include refrigerators, oven, incubators, colorimeters, weighing balance, centrifuge machine, spectrophotometer, laminar air flow, cupboard, distillation unit, autoclave, micropipettes, various glassware and plasticware, wall mounted cabinets for storing specimens, muffle furnace, and many small instruments. There is 24 hours electricity in the college and this helps run the cooling equipment and other laboratory equipment to run continuously, thus protecting the experiments and expensive reagents.

Microscopes

Benefits- Every student gets a compound microscope while doing their practicals. (Earlier two students were sharing one microscope)

Digital Balance

Digital balance is easy to use and also weighing of many chemicals in a series becomes faster as well as it is accurate.

Colorimeter

It is used to check the optical density (absorbance) of extracts or solutions. It is useful for practicals where immediate readings are to be taken after adding the reagents.

Waterbath

It is used to carry out boiling of reaction mixtures not directly but indirectly in boiling water baths. The temperature can be controlled and it can be used to boil solutions in test tubes, flasks and beakers and evaporating dishes.

Magnetic Stirrer and Heater

The equipment has helped in accurate preparation of complex reagents which requires mixing and heating at the same time.

Cyclomixer

It eases the even mixing of reagents in the test tube during practical. The speed regulator present in the new equipment helps in specific colorimetric estimations where high/low agitation is required.

Laminar Flow

It has helped in maintaining aseptic conditions for microbiology experiments with experiments giving good results improving the work quality and saving repetition of expensive and tedious experiments. (used for UG and PG experiments). Students are getting hands-on experience in using such equipment.

Oven and Incubator

The presence of separate oven and incubator has helped in segregation of work ie. (incubator for microbiological and enzymatic work which requires specific temperature) and (Oven for procedures which requires heating and drying). It is used for UG and PG.

Stereo-microscopes

These are being used to study minute morphological characters clearly and in a more magnified manner than a usual dissecting microscope. Students can use this for studying morphological features of plant material for regular practical as well as for project work.

pH-meter

The pH measurement is accurate, and is useful for preparation of reagents where accurate pH is mandatory for enzymatic assays. (students learn and get hands on experience)

Micropipettes

They are used especially during molecular biology experiments where the amount of liquid to be measured is very less.

Camera with GPS

The Camera with GPS is used during the botanical field trips to photograph plants (rare, endangered, common) in their natural habitat and also helps in noting the specific location of these. It is also used in taking closeup photographs of plant specimens or their parts during UG and PG practical.