GATE Biotechnology Exam: Important Dates

• Last date to fill the application form:  28th Sep 2019
• Last date to correct the application form: 15th Oct 2019
• Last date for Payment of Application Fee (online):   15th Nov 2019
• Downloading of admit cards: 3rd Jan 2020
• Online Examination:  1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th & 9th Feb 2020
• Result of Online exam: 19th to 31st March 2020

Application Fees

For Male Candidates (Gen/OBC)

Application fee: Rs. 1500

For SC/ST/PWD/Female Candidates (All Categories)

Application fee: Rs. 750

For International Students (Dubai/Singapore)

Application fee: US $ 100

For International Students (Addis Ababa/Colombo/Dhaka/Kathmandu)

Application fee: US $ 50

Eligibility for GATE Biotechnology Exam 

Nationality / Citizenship: The candidate must be an Indian Citizen.

Age of the candidate:

There is no age limit.

Educational Qualification:

• The candidate must have a Bachelor’s degree in B.Tech/ BE in any relevant science stream or must be in the final year from recognized university/ institution.
• There is no minimum pass percentage in the qualifying degree.

GATE Biotechnology Exam 2020: Exam pattern

• Gate 2020 will be of 100 marks.
• The exam will have 65 questions.
• Total duration of the exam will be 180 minutes.
• There will be two type of papers:
  • Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
  • Numerical Answer Type (NAT) Questions
• Sections in the exam: Three
  • General Aptitude- 15%
  • Engineering Mathematics- 15%
  • Subject specified by the student- 70%
• Marking scheme: For 1 mark MCQ, 1/3 mark will be deducted for each wrong answer, For 2 marks MCQ, 2/3 marks will be deducted for each wrong answer. If a question is left blank, i.e. unattempted questions; there will be no penalty for that question. No negative marking for NAT Questions.

Syllabus: GATE Biotechnology Exam 2020

Linear Algebra
Matrices and determinants, Systems of linear equations, Eigenvalues, and Eigenvectors.

Calculus
Limit, continuity and differentiability, Partial derivatives, Maxima and minima, Sequences and series, Test for convergence, Fourier Series.

Differential Equations
Linear and nonlinear first-order ODEs, higher-order ODEs with constant coefficients, Cauchy’s and Euler’s equations, Laplace transforms, PDE- Laplace, heat and wave equations.

Probability and Statistics
Mean, median, mode and standard deviation, Random variables, Poisson, normal and binomial distributions, Correlation and regression analysis.

Numerical Methods
The solution of linear and nonlinear algebraic equations, Integration of trapezoidal and Simpson’s rule, Single and multistep methods for differential equations.

Microbiology
Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell structure; Microbial nutrition, growth, and control; Microbial metabolism (aerobic and anaerobic respiration, photosynthesis); Nitrogen fixation; Chemical basis of mutations and mutagens; Microbial genetics (plasmids, transformation, transduction, conjugation); Microbial diversity and characteristic features; Viruses.

Biochemistry
Bimolecular and their conformation; Ramachandran map; Weak inter-molecular interactions in biomacromolecules; Chemical and functional nature of enzymes; Kinetics of single substrate and bi-substrate enzyme-catalyzed reactions; Bioenergetics; Metabolism (Glycolysis, TCA and Oxidative phosphorylation); Membrane transport and pumps; Cell cycle and cell growth control; Cell signaling and signal transduction; Biochemical and biophysical techniques for macromolecular analysis.

Molecular Biology and Genetics
Molecular structure of genes and chromosomes; DNA replication and control; Transcription and its control; Translational processes; Regulatory controls in prokaryotes and eukaryotes; Mendelian inheritance; Gene interaction; Complementation; Linkage, recombination and chromosome mapping; Extra chromosomal inheritance; Chromosomal variation; Population genetics; Transposable elements, Molecular basis of genetic diseases and applications.

Process Biotechnology
Bioprocess technology for the production of cell biomass and primary/secondary metabolites, such as baker’s yeast, ethanol, citric acid, amino acids, exopolysaccharides, antibiotics, and pigments, etc.; Microbial production, purification and bioprocess application(s) of industrial enzymes; Production and purification of recombinant proteins on a large scale; Chromatographic and membrane-based bioseparation methods; Immobilization of enzymes and cells and their application for bioconversion processes. Aerobic and anaerobic biological processes for stabilization of solid/liquid wastes; Bioremediation.

Bioprocess Engineering
Kinetics of microbial growth, substrate utilization and product formation; Simple structured models; Sterilization of air and media; Batch, fed-batch and continuous processes; Aeration and agitation; Mass transfer in bioreactors; Rheology of fermentation fluids; Scale-up concepts; Design of fermentation media; Various types of microbial and enzyme reactors; Instrumentation in bioreactors.

Plant and Animal Biotechnology
Special features and organization of plant cells; Totipotency; Regeneration of plants; Plant products of industrial importance; Biochemistry of major metabolic pathways and products; Autotrophic and heterotrophic growth; Plant growth regulators and elicitors; Cell suspension culture development: methodology, the kinetics of growth and production formation, nutrient optimization; Production of secondary metabolites by plant suspension cultures; Hairy root cultures and their cultivation. Techniques in raising transgenic.

Characteristics of Animal Cells
Metabolism, regulation and nutritional requirements for mass cultivation of animal cell cultures; Kinetics of cell growth and product formation and effect of shear force; Product and substrate transport; Micro & macro-carrier culture; Hybridoma technology; Livestock improvement; Cloning in animals; Genetic engineering in animal cell culture; Animal cell preservation.

Immunology
The origin of immunology; Inherent immunity; Humoral and cell-mediated immunity; Primary and secondary lymphoid organ; Antigen; B and T cells and Macrophages; Major histocompatibility complex (MHC); Antigen processing and presentation; Synthesis of antibody and secretion; Molecular basis of antibody diversity; Polyclonal and monoclonal antibody; Complement; Antigen-antibody reaction; Regulation of immune response; Immune tolerance; Hyper sensitivity; Autoimmunity; Graft versus host reaction.

Recombinant DNA Technology
Restriction and modification enzymes; Vectors: plasmid, bacteriophage and other viral vectors, cosmids, Ti plasmid, yeast artificial chromosome; cDNA and genomic DNA library; Gene isolation; Gene cloning; Expression of cloned gene; Transposons and gene targeting; DNA labeling; DNA sequencing; Polymerase chain reactions; DNA fingerprinting; Southern and northern blotting; In-situ hybridization; RAPD; RFLP; Site-directed mutagenesis; Gene transfer technologies; Gene therapy.

Bioinformatics
Major Bioinformatics resources (NCBI, EBI, ExPASy); Sequence and structure databases; Sequence analysis (biomolecular sequence file formats, scoring matrices, sequence alignment, phylogeny); Genomics and Proteomics (Large scale genome sequencing strategies; Comparative genomics; Understanding DNA microarrays and protein arrays); Molecular modeling and simulations (basic concepts including concept of force fields).
 

Preparation tips for GATE Biotechnology Exam 2020:

• You need to finish three sections of GATE 2019 within 180 minutes, which means you need speed with accuracy in order to attempt 100 questions in total. The more you practice, the better chances you have of acing this exam.
• Make Engineering Mathematics your strong subject, practice questions to solve them within time to increase efficiency. You should lay emphasis not on mugging up the formulas but instead try understanding the concepts, so, you can modify the formulas according to the question requirement.
• Remember negative marking is a factor here. Therefore, try not to attempt questions that put you in doubt.
• Manage your time properly; give an appropriate amount of time to each section. Try to improve your time by practicing as many online tests as possible. Youth4work provides online mock tests will time limit attached to each question; this way one can learn to finish the entire exam within the time limit.
• Studying in a stretch for hours can be tedious and hard and also not so good. Therefore, try to study several times in regular sessions during a day. This will make learning easy and fun; also you will have enough time to brush up the already studied topics in between intervals.
• It is very important to maintain proper health, so you don’t fall sick on the big day. Give your brain an appropriate time to refresh itself. Don’t rush too much information into your head than its limit allows. Take it slow and steady. And get at least eight hours of sleep each night.

Youth4work Prep Tests

Online practice tests for competitive exams – are very unique and popular among aspirants. Aspirants can take self-designed mock-tests as well as practice for sections and topics separately. Youth4work’s unique and proprietary technology is helping lakhs of aspirants to reveal personal details on what are the strength areas of aspirants for any exam and also suggest how they can improve the performance.
Following are interesting insights from nearly lakhs of question attempts on GATE Biotechnology practice tests on Youth4work. Every aspirant is rated on a Rating Scale. The ratings of the aspirants change with every question attempt.