1. BACKGROUND

The undergraduate department of zoology was established in 1896 in the erstwhile Robertson College along with other science undergraduate departments. Postgraduate teaching in the zoology department was initiated in the college in 1952. The department has been maintaining rich traditions of teaching & learning science more than half a century. It has had many distinguished scientists as its staff members & heads, and many of its alumni have held important posts in the country and abroad.

2. THE PRESENT STAFF:- At present the department has 10 regular teaching staff members; out of 13 sanctioned posts. A brief write up about them & their achievements follows in the order of seniority -

1) Dr. A. Khanna – is the present head. She has been directly selected for the post of professor by MPPSC in 1986. She is involved in the teaching of biotechnology courses as well. Her field of interest in research is cytogenetics & cytotoxicity. Four research scholars have been awarded Ph D degree under her guidance. Currently she is guiding a scholar who is studying the genotoxic effects of insecticides on cultured human lymphocytes. She was awarded a mini research project by the MP Council of Science and technology with a grant of 1.25 lakh in 1996-1999 on a "study of normal & abnormal karyotypes of dwarf & white leghorn chicken and their disease resistance to Salmonella sp. infections." She has six publications to her credit during the last five years. A minor research project has been sanctioned to her by the UGC on "The genoprotective effects of Ocimum sanctum extract on chromosome aberrations induced by insecticides in human lymphocytes" in Feb. 2006.

2) Dr. K.K. Dube- is a specialist of fisheries & limnology. Three students have obtained PhD degree under his guidance and he is busy guiding several others in his chosen field in coordination with the fisheries dept. of JNKVV. He has several research papers to his credit and is on the editorial board of a journal published from Satna, M.P.

3) Dr. P.L. Ahirwal- did his PhD on a limnological study of some fresh water bodies ofJabalpur. He is incharge of the welfare of SC/ST candidates.

4) Prof. A.K. Kashyap- is also a staff member who is a specialist in cell biology.

5) Dr. Rita Bhandari- is a specialist of entomology and has nine publications to her credit during the last five years. Neuroendocrinology & insect behavior are her fields of interest. She is at present co investigator of a UGC major project and she also has a UGC minor project. Five students have obtained Ph D under her guidance and two are registered under her in collaboration with the Zoological Survey Of India, Jabalpur. She has been to Italy for a paper presentation. She has published twelve papers in the last five years.

6) Dr. Sunita Sharma- obtained her Ph D degree in zoology under the able guidance of Dr. S.P. Sharma on "The study of correlation of maternal age and sex of the baby." She published a paper in Vigyan Bharati and was honored in its young scientist conference. She has been the in charge of the zoological society of the college & has been managing the academic activity & extracurricular activities of the society very well.

7) Dr. Veena Choubey- has a specialization in Entomology. She obtained her Ph D in 2005 on "The biological control of the insect pests of Sal seeds". She has published three papers in the last five years.

8) Dr. Sampa Jain – She did her research on " Histopathological aspects of toxic effects of pesticides on fishes and one paper has been published.

9) Dr. Jaishree Naidu- is an M.Sc. in Bioscience from RDVV. She did her M Phil in 1986 and Ph D in 1990 on "superficial mycosis" in the field of medical mycology. She has been active in research work ever since and six students have obtained Ph D under her able guidance, five more are registered. She has published 18 papers in international & national journals during the last five years. Currently she is engaged in molecular typing of fungal antigens and DNA finger printing of fungi of medical importance. At present she has been awarded a mini project from UGC.

She worked in UK form six months on a commonwealth fellowship in Leeds. She has visited several countries (Australia, Italy, Israel & Argentina) for paper presentation & has won several awards.

Besides being heavily engaged in research work, she is actively involved in the teaching & management of the under graduate biotechnology self-financing course.

10) Dr. Smt. Varsha Aglave- did her research under Dr. Jaishree Naidu & Dr. S.M. Singh (RDVV) on "The serology, etiology & epidemiology & therapy of deep mycosis" and obtained her P h D in 2004. She has made three poster presentations in various conferences in the last five years.

3. FACILITIES AVAILABLE: -

Department has well equipped laboratories. Our under graduate laboratories have good microscopes & other basic equipments such as colorimeters and pH meters in adequate number and our museum is one of the best in the state It was established by the pioneers of the department at its inception and has an excellent collection of stuffed birds, reptiles & mammals in addition to skeletons & fossils of different types of mammals and preserved specimens. It is in fact a legacy handed over to us by our predecessors, which we have maintained.

Our labs have also the desired equipment for the undergraduate biotechnology practical work as well as research work. We have high magnification Olympus & Nikon Microscopes with Photomicrograph Systems & Image Capture System. We also have laminar air flow chamber & other tissue culture facilities, SDS-PAGE facilities, cooling centrifuge, cooling incubator, hybridization chamber etc. We will soon have deep freezer. The college has a carbon dioxide incubator & UV visual pc linked spectrophotometer as central lab facility. The department has a PCR equipment & it also has gel documentation facility.

4. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY:- The department has a very active Zoological Society, which is looked after by Dr. Sunita Sharma. The society conducts seminars by PG students who speak on curricular & extracurricular topics. This serves to build up confidence in PG students and the practice of delivering seminars hones up their presentation skills. Each year, the society is inaugurated by a learned lecture by a renowned scientist. Last year Dr. AB Shrivastava, Head of the Department, Pathology & Wild Life, Veterinary College, Jabalpur delivered a talk on "Health of wild life of MP". Dr. Shrivastava has a project on wild life health monitoring which is funded by the World Bank. Dr. Salil Kumar Jain, Dy. Director Research , JNKVV, delivered a talk on veterinary in vitro fertilization techniques. Dr. Esther Joseph ,Prof. Dept. of Microbiology, Veterinary College, Jabalpur delivered talks on Microbial Biodiversity to biotechnology students.

5. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES There is a healthy research oriented attitude in the department. Dr. Jaishree Naidu is leading the departments research activities- five students are currently doing research on molecular typing of fungal antigens including DNA finger printing. Students are working on the genotoxicity of insecticides, genoprotective effects of Tulsi on chromosomes of cultured human lymphocytes under the guidance of Dr Asha Khanna, Dr. Rita Bhandari is doing research along with two of her students on insect immunology and applied entomology . Dr. K.K. Dubey is active in the field of limnology & is guiding five students. The faculty members of the department have completed four research projects and currently work is going on for two more projects. In total 90 papers have been published by all the teachers .A proposal for starting M.Sc.Biotechnology has been sent to the Govt.