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PHARMACY EDUCATION IN INDIA

Pharmacy is a versatile, dynamic, and fast-growing profession with a wide range of professional opportunities. With the enormous advancement in this field, it became one of the primary pillars of global healthcare. Centrally regulated education policies in India, pharma education became more specific in its target. Pharmacists contribute to their workforce in different areas of healthcare and society starting from medical shops to research and development. Maximum therapeutic benefit from their treatment and medicine is the primary concern of a pharmacist. Many pharmacists work behind the screen to run a smooth healthcare system and face the unbound challenges of healthcare. The pharmacy profession has been ranked by Gallup poll (USA) as one of the trustworthy professions. The third-largest professional to provide healthcare services in the world is the pharmacist.

The pharmacy word has been coined from the Greek word ‘Pharmacon’ which means drug. The demand of a defined pharma education has increased by identifying the complexity of medicine and their formulations and the criticality of making the medicines. In the ancient era, pharmacists are entitled to help physicians. Nearly at 1240 AD, the pharmacy has separated from medicine to fulfil the requirement of skill, knowledge, and responsibility to manufacture medicine. There are other systems of medicine also in practice in India like Ayurveda, Sidha, and Unani where the separate skilled pharmacist demand also came into existence. Pharmacy education in India was certified level offered in Goa by the Portuguese in 1842 and the university level education started in 1937 at Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Since then, several universities, and colleges are offering courses across the country. The first Pharmacy college in Asia was established in 1842 in Goa, India. Prof. M L Schroof is called the father of Pharmacy education in India. The Pharmacy act 1948 regulates the Pharmacy profession in India and as per Sec 3 of this act the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has established which regulates the Pharmacy education in India. The courses like Diploma in Pharmacy (D. Pharm), Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm), Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm. D.), and Master of Pharmacy (M. Pharm) is offered by different colleges in India.

Diploma in Pharmacy: Minimum requirement is 10+2 Science stream. It’s a 2-year full-time course with 500 hours of hospital training.

Bachelor of Pharmacy: Minimum requirement is 10+2 Science stream (PCM/PCB/PCMB). It’s a four years full-time course. After D. Pharm 3 years course (Lateral entry at 2nd year)

Doctor of Pharmacy: Minimum requirement is 10+2 Science stream (PCM/PCB/PCMB) or D. Pharm. It is a six-year course including one year internship. After B.Pharm direct admission of 4th year of Pharm D.

Master of Pharmacy: Minimum requirement is B. Pharm from a PCI-recognized institution. It’s a two years full-time program. The specializations are Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Analysis, Pharmacology, Pharmacy Practice, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Industrial Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Regulatory Affairs, and Quality assurance.

Ph.D. in Pharmacy: Minimum requirement is M. Pharm. It can be full-time or part-time. The minimum duration is three years.

The Pharmacy education in India is well defined with wide range of career opportunities. It is also a divine profession associated directly with core healthcare system. The professions also include production of medicine, direct health care manger as clinical and hospital pharmacist, educationist, government job, research and development, analytical chemist etc. Choosing Pharmacy profession is definitely a wise decision towards a perfect career and a divine job.

EXPLORE A CAREER AS A MEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN

What is the Medical Lab Technology?

Bachelor in Medical Lab Technology is a 3-year undergraduate course designed to equip eligible candidates with an advanced learning in both routine and sophisticated laboratory diagnostic procedures. Students enrolled to the course are taught to perform tests that aid in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Eligibility Criteria

Students who wish to enrol B.Sc. MLT course have to qualify their 10+2 in the area of science.
The candidate should pass their 10+2 with a minimum percentage of 50 or equivalent (depends on different colleges) from the recognized education board in the country.

Career opportunities for the students

Laboratory technologist at pharmaceutical laboratories, Pathology labs, Public Health Laboratories, Hospitals, Research and product development etc.
Research Scholar/Scientist
Blood Bank
Medical Officer
Laboratory Manager
Assistant Professor
Laboratory Technician at Government Hospitals by HRB recruitments

EXPLORE A CAREER AS A OPTOMETRIST

What is Optometry?

A health care profession that involves examining the eyes and applicable visual system for defects or abnormalities as well as prescribing the correction for refractive error with glasses or contact lenses and treatment of the diseases.
Duration Of Course: 3 years theory +1 year internship In reputed hospital

Eligibility Criteria

Students who wish to pursue B. Optom course have to qualify their 10+2 in the area of science.
The candidate should pass their 10+2 with a minimum aggregate of 50% marks or equivalent (depends on different colleges) from the recognized education board.

Career opportunities for the students:

Students after completing their 4 year Bachelor in Optometry Course can work in
Reputed Eye Hospital
Start their own Private Practice
Work as a Consultant Optometrist in Retail Outlet
Consultant Optometrist in Multi-national Companies
Research Optometrist
Assistant Professor and Professor in Reputed Optometry Colleges across the countries.

Career Prospect Post-Pandemic: Film & Television

Everyone wants her or his name on banners, billboards, social media sites, television and newspapers – if you think it is tough, it is. However, if you think it is impossible, it is not.

The world of audio-visual production is undergoing a stark change, especially after the pandemic – the old structure of film-funding-making-distribution-exhibition is slowly fading away. New avenues are created, new paths are laid for such purposes.

Adamas University’s post-graduate program of M.A. in Film and Television is the course that realises one’s dream to be a filmmaker. With four dedicated semesters with courses covering both theoretical and practical aspects of filmmaking, the aspiring student will have the following ‘out-of-the-box’ career options at her/his disposal:

Feature Filmmaker
Documentary Filmmaker
Short Filmmaker
Corporate Filmmaker
Advertisement Filmmaker

There are other avenues of the audio-visual industry, which might entice a youngster with promising career prospects. They are:

Script Writing
Assistant Director
Script Supervisor
Cameraperson
Executive Producer
Sound Designer
Sound Recordist
Editor
Colourist
Gaffer

Apart from these industry-oriented careers, M.A. in Film and Television and B.A. in Media Technology also come with an assurance of a career in academia. They are:

Researcher
Assistant Professor
Subject Coordinator / Specialist

Primary Career Aspects in Details

Feature Filmmaker

Filmmakers are one of the most popular faces and celebrities of the world – yes, more than a doctor or an engineer. It is not always about the paycheck that is collected at the end of the month, but it is all about what life can give you, and what you can give to life, and to the lives of the others. Filmmaking is a not a ten-to-five job. This profession aspires a lot of love, philosophy and of course, once the filmmaker is on track, he does not have to look back.

Documentary Filmmaker

Documentary Filmmakers’ lives are not entirely different from the previous one, and more than often they are the same because a filmmaker makes all kinds of films. But the only difference that we can feel is that the documentary filmmaker is more accustomed to the realities of his world he is capturing on his camera and representing, and has a certain sincerity to the research and excavate the truth that she or he wants to unravel.

Short Filmmaker

Short films are like poetry in comparison to the features, which are more like novels in their genealogy. However, shorts films are the launching pad for any filmmaker as they are mostly independent films and provide a rich portfolio or show reel for you!

Corporate Filmmaker

Corporate filmmaking is a long advertisement made for a corporate company instead of a product or service as in advertisement. In the post pandemic era, this has become more than necessity because a company or a brand has to reach out to people instead of people reaching out to them.

Advertisement Filmmaker

Ad filmmakers have an exciting as well challenging life to bring out the best of the ideas on audio-visuals, which will stick to the audience’s mind. Ad filmmakers are the best liars who are successful in reality.

Script Writing

Script is the heart of a film, series, serial and an ad. One has to know the art of writing to have engaging script. This demands the ideas of literature, music, history, politics and most importantly -emotional quotient along with a critical and thinking mind. This is the reason why the PG and UG programmes of Entertainment Media have courses on literature, theatre and music.

Assistant Director

Assistant Directors are the most important second in command in a film who eventually evolves to be a director.

Script Supervisor

They are the script experts, or to be precise, script-doctors. There are certain nuances, character and narrative arcs, developments in narratives in terms of three act-structures, development of plot points, hooks and references that are used, or rather planted in a script to make it more appealing.

Camera person

Camera person, or DOP, needs to have a clear understanding of what the script and the director wants. If the director decides what shot and frame will be in a shot, the DOP decides how to create that particular shot to make it mesmerizing for the audience.

Executive Producer

Executive Producers (EPs) have to have a thorough idea of the filmmaking process and have to control a production. Starting from the pre-production process till the end of post-production, an EP coordinates and controls the creative aspect of the entire production as bridge between the production company and the directorial team.

Sound Designer

Sound is an area that is does not gain so much of attention except for those who are in the film industry. Sound is more complicated than visuals. In order to tell a story properly, any production requires a sound designer, who would take each and every aspect of sound into consideration – diegetic (the sound which has its source inside the narrative) and extra-diegetic (the sound that does not come from the physical aspect of the narrative, but psychological) and design it at the level of the script.

Sound Recordist

In most of the cases, sound designer is the sound recordist. To be precise, a sound recordist has to record sound on and off the location, along with post-production sound.

Editor

Editor of any audio-visual is the person who joins shots, puts transitions – in short, weaves images into a single strand we call a narrative. Editors are as important as the Cinematographers.

Colourist

Colourists, similar to editors, balance colours and make the final output look charismatic. Colourists are one of the significant people in the post-production process of any film.

Gaffer

Gaffer is the chief lighting technician of a film. The role of the gaffer is slowly gaining immense significance in India since the Indian film industry has realised the significance of light in a nay production that can change the mood, tempo and even the narrative arch

Researcher

Project Fellowship, PhD, Post Doctoral degree and other such commissioned projects from various institutions, universities of India and Abroad along with the Film Archive of Pune and Online MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) projects always require academic scholars of film, media, society and culture. Film and Television Studies encourages academic research as well as film criticism.

Assistant Professor

Strictly academic, post-graduates of Film and Television students can dedicate their career to academic streams where the scholar can teach and train students in various colleges and universities in subjects like audio-visuals, advertisements, film and film making, film studies, cultural studies and so on.

Subject Coordinator / Specialist

As mentioned above, a number of career opportunities have evolved for the freelance researchers and subject specialists in audio-visual medium. There are online courses. MOOCs like SWAYAM, Coursera, LinkedIn and a host of other evolving companies require subject experts and coordinators for creating academic content, images and even video contents for various subjects of media and other overlapping subjects

Graphic Designer

Someone with an interest in software and creation of computer generated images and design can choose the career of a designer or an illustrator. As we are in a world that is dominated by the world of images as primary information vis-a-vis communication, the requirements for good designers (who can use pen, software, or any form) to communicate through visuals and designs (like illustrators in ad agencies) are acute. As we are speeding up in the information highway, designers are becoming an integral part for any industry.

Animators

Animators create a world of their own. A number of television, OTT, film and ad productions always feel the need for an efficient animator. Apart from this, an animator can be an independent filmmaker on her or his own right on the basis of his skill of creating animation, both 2D and 3d although the latter is gaining more prominence.

Secondary / Tertiary Career Aspects

Courses on Media, Film and Television open up Pandora’s box. If the above 21 career paths were primary options for someone pursuing MA in Film and TV and BSc in Media Technology, there are uncountable secondary and tertiary career options open.

If someone has a flare for writing (both the courses thrust on writing skills – both creative and reportage), she or he can explore the options for:

Film Critic
Film Journalist
Content Writer
Promotional Video Maker
Professional Blogger
Professional Vlogger
Social Media Strategist
Social Media Manager
Photographer
Designer
Radio Programmer
Actor

Industries Open for our Students

Since film, media, television and culture are overlapping with technology, communication, business, information technology and print and even theatre, a graduate or a post-graduate student with these two courses (both or any one of them) have the key to work in the following industries:

Film Industry i.e. Production houses, as Indie Independent) films
Television Industry, i.e. TV channels, TV production houses
Advertisement Agencies
OTTs
Newspaper Agencies
Social Networks
PR Agencies
Colleges and Universities
All Business Processing Outsource (BPO) companies and Knowledge Processing Outsource companies (KPO)
Online Course Creation companies

Afterword

It should always be borne in mind that someone who chooses MA in Film and Television or B.Sc in Media Technology can easily fathom the depths of cultural representations including cinema, television, literature and other arts with a little effort and self-persuasion. We believe that such a scholar or a film and TV expert that this programme will produce can venture on their own. From running their own online companies to being indie filmmakers, they can do whatever they want.

These two courses do not tell you what you have to do. Rather, these two courses empower you to dominate the world through your own key of creativity. It is often said that a course trains its students according to the industry need. However, we think a little further – these courses create students not according to the dictates of the industry (which is always changing), but creates such leaders who can mould the industry and the way industries work. These courses believe in the creative freedom of the individual, which will help them to get into, mould and lead any industry they want.

Careers in Video Gaming Industry in Post-Pandemic World

When it comes to video games, there are a lot of speculations about them being addictive and detrimental. However, in this article, we will look at video gaming as a storytelling medium and most importantly how media and technology students can be a part of this industry and what it holds from the perspective of getting a successful career. Video games have always served as recreational entertainment tools. Most video games are played on consoles and there has been a lot of development in the gaming industry with more youth players engaging with video games. Moreover, Ed-tech companies are now investing heavily into animation and gamification, and also India overall is becoming the next international player in the domain of video game development with many game studios entering this market every year. As per statistics, the video gaming industry contributes more than 90 billion dollars worldwide. While in India, the video gaming industry has crossed more than the 1.1-billion-dollar mark.

Historically, gaming was more of recreational activity and was solely consumed for entertainment. This very demand for electronic digital entertainment grew exponentially and led to the foundation of big tech gaming companies. Primarily there are two types of gaming organizations one is the development studio and another one is the publishing studio. Game development companies are studios, where games are developed, while game publishing firms are companies that market, publish and distribute games across the world market. Over the last 20 years, the video gaming industry has grown multiple folds with new categories of companies coming up every year. Now the question is, why should you work for the video gaming industry? The answer is simply because video games have garnered a massive audience base, governments of various countries are now looking to innovate education through gamification and more gaming companies are coming up, providing alternative job opportunities in the entertainment industry. The fan base of popular video games can be compared with the fan base of the film industry.

With that being said, we might wonder what does it take to work in such a lucrative industry? What is the particular set of skills required to develop or publish games? Let us try and decode the specific requirements one is expected to have to work in the various departments of video gaming companies. When it comes to developing games there are two ways, one is technical and the other is non-technical. Under the technical set of skills, candidates are expected to know programming and scripting. Video games are made using game engines and most popular game engines require programming knowledge. Hence, it is always advisable to know basic programming to operate with a game engine. Popular game engines like Unity and Unreal are based on C# (pronounced as C-sharp) and C++ respectively. Programming knowledge is the core technical element of game development. Now coming to the non-technical area, particularly the front-end design and the artistic elements of a game. Skills in digital illustration, graphic designing, and creating UI icons based on graphic and vector illustration software such as Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop, will come in handy. Apart from still graphics, games also need animation and motion graphics. Animation and graphics are further categorized under 2D and 3D. For 2D animation, it is recommended to learn software such as Krita, OpenToonz, and even Blender. For 3D modelling, software such as 3DS Max and Blender comes in handy and for 3D animation, it is recommended to have skills in Maya and Blender. Thus, the primary requirement to develop games will need skills in coding, 3D/2D, and animation. Furthermore, different games have different narrative elements and require narrative-building elements such as content, script, story, character, and even voice-overs. One can choose to become a game content writer, a motion capture artist, a voice-over artist, a music and sound artist, etc. Gaming companies also hire for other management and admin positions including, HR, Marketing & Sales, Public Relations, Client Servicing, Digital Marketing, Community Building, Customer Acquisition, IT and ERP, Business Development, Etc. These positions are also available in video game publishing companies.

To become a game developer, one has to have patience and a focused set of skills. The video game industry is also an equally competitive market and is entirely content-driven. So far there is no recorded monopoly in this sector and thus providing ample opportunities for growth. Anyone can be a game developer even those belonging from non-engineering and technology backgrounds. Digital gaming has come a long way ever since the early 60s, when it was first discovered in a physics lab, and continues to evolve further with integrated technologies such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, etc, hence any additional skills in these domains will be helpful for a successful career in gaming. Personally, I will always recommend anyone, who wishes to be a part of game development, learn game engines and begin with simple ones. In India, the video gaming industry is rising every year with new companies coming up in every Indian city. The Covid pandemic itself hastened the process of making most Indians digital converts, with a major number of users actively playing games on their mobile devices. Thus, Indian companies are now slowly realizing the full potential of digital gaming, becoming. Fortunately, for India, the biggest advantage is its massive youth population, which contributes immensely to the overall target audience count in mobile gaming. This huge market is very lucrative for a lot of foreign gaming studios that have started expanding into India and are actively hiring candidates from the local population for content localization and distribution. Game giants such as UBI Soft, Rockstar Games, Epic Games, and Unity Technologies have already made their presence in our country, as they have partnered with many independent game developers from the country and are helping them in publishing their games. Game-based marketing and promotion and gamification will possibly become the trend in post-pandemic India in sectors of Edtech, OTT, and E-commerce.

Clinching a Gleam of Optimism in Pharma Domain during Pre and Post Covid-19 era; Silver Lining in Dark Cloud

Prologues

The shadowy coronavirus eruption in the Chinese city Wuhan by December 2019, now called as COVID-19, and its reckless blowout to several other countries, jeopardizes thousands of lives, led to a medical emergency all over the world. The pandemic has catalysed the development of novel coronavirus drugs or vaccines across pharmaceutical, biotech companies and research organisations. Currently, there are no definite vaccines or treatments. However, there are numerous clinical trials by several pharmaceutical companies is ongoing to achieve a potential treatment.

Outbursts

“From an economic perspective, the key issue is not just the number of cases of COVID-19, but the level of disruption to economies from containment measures”

-Ben May, Head of Global Macro Research at Oxford Economics.

The virus outburst has transformed as one of the prime threats to the worldwide economy and financial markets. Several outbreak effects are:

Global stocks of hit
Declining crash of oil prices
High recession risk
Turn to advanced and fruitful technology
Hardest hit in tourism throughout the world
Visibility of lockdowns mere consequence
Unemployment of a large section of common people

Governments around the world have admonished workforces to continue from home whereas possible. The travel industry has been dreadfully damaged. Stockholders dread that the outbreak of the coronavirus will extinguish the economic growth and that governmental authority may not be enough to halt the decline.

Pharmacists and Pharmacies; the Frontline of Public Health

As an increasing number of countries and towns are in lockdown condition, millions of public are in isolation and are maintaining social distancing inside their homes. It has indeed observed all over the globe that the pharmacy professionals are acting frontline roles enormously. Pharmacists are a fundamental element of healthcare providing extraordinary services in the earlier pandemics and health calamity also.

Community pharmacists and their teams remain on the front of public health during the outbreak by serving as direct access for patients, keen-sighted patients and reducing the patients’ load on health practices. Community pharmacists also endure to play their uninterrupted action for consistent supplies of medication as well as other needful supporting. The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has dispensed a pack of 10 synopses for guidance on COVID-19. Other pharmaceutical association has also providing guidelines and needful documents for the solidification and attentiveness of the community pharmacies as front line health care workers in the global health crisis.

Pharmacies around the world are one of the few places that are kept open for public service even during the strict lockdowns.

A Wakeup Call for Pharma Industry Globally

As economies around the world are suffering from the impact of Covid-19 and many business faces the challenges but pharmaceutical businesses captivating step in the Covid-19 fight. Such as Eli Lilly and Gilead are farsighted growth on the market and a novel torrent of invention in the communicable disease scenery as the treatment approval for a Covid-19 cure takes off. Other pharmaceutical companies also following ensemble during the Covid-19 pandemic and using their individual proficiencies to alleviate the cargo of coronavirus. As more clinical trials are performing, novel therapies may achieve. However, during this financial regression and global health fears, the contribution of pharmaceutical firms is on the mark and their impression on the competition against the virus will not be simply forgotten. The perception of large revenues coming from newly established drugs will face amplified inspection in a time of global pandemic as an outcome of communal and competitive pressures.

Pharmaceutical scenario in India

India is a chief provider of low-priced drugs all over the world and is truly recognized as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’. It ranks 3rd, worldwide for pharmaceutical production by volume, 13th by value and accounts for about 10% of the world’s production by volume and 1.5% by value. 50% of the United States’ generic drug needs are met by India. The Indian pharma industry aspires to become the world’s largest supplier of drugs by 2030. All major pharma industries have come all together to aid with knowledge and sharing information to safeguard production of medications critical to tackle coronavirus. Alembic is operating at 80% formulation capacity and its API plant is operational at around 60-70% capacity. Similarly, Zydus, a foremost manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has already augmented its capacity to produce both the API and the other formulation manifold. Additionally, other reputed and other companies is also prioritising the manufacturing of drugs that are in high demand now, like azithromycin. A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared HCQ supplies from India to countries like the US, Brazil and Israel.

Rays of Hope Amidst

The role and necessity of pharmacist is reshaping its approach towards society. Now Their true value is exposed due to their services towards masses including utmost care, psychological support etc.

There are substantial global exertions proceeding to diagnose, cure and avert infections from the virus. Pharmaceutical firms are working universally to battle Covid-19 from scientific data gained from eras of knowledge with comparable viruses and undertaking novel inventories of research to identify additional potential treatments for R&D.

References:

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
https://thebluecircle.co/2020/05/04/covid-19-a-wakeup-call-for-indias-pharma-industry/
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51706225 Bukhari, Nadia, Huma Rasheed, and Bismah Nayyer. “Pharmacists at the frontline beating the COVID-19 pandemic.” (2020): 1-4
https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/comment/covid-19-pharmaceutical-companies-impact/

Post-pandemic professions in Cyber Security

The epidemic caused significant employment losses and layoffs across a variety of sectors, with few or no new positions being filled. However, recruiting has started up again in some industries, which is a sign that the world has moved on from the pandemic.

“The pandemic helped us understand how important it is to digitise our records. Everything, from the job roles itself to the hiring process itself, has been shifted into the virtual platform. According to Ashutosh Seth, founder of Risebird, an edtech company that assists recruiting teams in completing the technical interviewing process, as a consequence, positions have evolved to deal and manage the enormous amount of data that has transferred on cloud platforms.

“There is a significant shortage of qualified candidates for tech positions such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cyber security (CS), data analyst (DA), and coding developers (coders).” In addition to this, there is also an increase in the demand for people who work in the medical field as well as pharmacists, says he.

During the epidemic, there was a halt to any new employment, and there were even reductions in workforce size and layoffs. It was anticipated that once the pandemic was declared over, there would be an increase in the number of people getting jobs. According to Kamlesh Vyas, Partner at Deloitte India, “unfortunately, we have not seen that happening.” [Citation needed]

“This could be due to a number of factors since a number of businesses have incurred damages that are beyond repair and are unable to backfill their positions.” There aren’t many sectors that are still operating in the watch-and-wait mentality before investing in people. Because of the epidemic, many organisations have gained the ability to function with fewer employees as a result of automation, rationalisation, restructuring, multi-skilling, and other such practises, and thus do not see the need for aggressive hiring. However, according to Vyas, occupations in high-end technologies, such as artificial intelligence, analytics, cyber security, augmented reality/virtual reality, robots, cloud computing, and so on, would continue to be in demand during this period.

The epidemic has also brought to light the significance of developing automated systems. As a direct consequence of this, there is a greater demand for hardware engineers to automate the gear and devices that are already in use. According to Balasubramanian A, Business Head, Consumer and Healthcare, TeamLease Services, the professionals who will be working in the world after the pandemic would need to get themselves ready for the digital world and the more automated sector.

In addition to the obvious desire for IT expertise or occupations driven by technology, he notes that there is a demand for entry-level positions in field sales. These individuals are responsible for bringing the meal to the table. During the shutdown, a large number of businesses were severely disrupted, and many found it difficult to reach their ultimate goals. Now that a lot of businesses are attempting to get back on their feet, make up for any losses, and enhance their market share, those businesses are placing a strong emphasis on employing frontline sales employees.

According to a survey compiled by TeamLease, the average growth in salaries for sales profiles was found to be 7.41 percent, while the growth in salaries for R & D Analyst positions in the Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals industry was reported as 9.39 percent. The report went on to state that the increase in pay for the position of Automation Engineer in Information Technology and Knowledge Services was registered at 10.71 percent.

According to Balasubramanian A., in the world that has been left behind by the epidemic, businesses are now delivering professionals concrete benefits in the form of flexibility in regard to both time and location. Compared to a couple of years ago, when it came to giving in to the expectations of the employers, the businesses have been a lot more accommodating in recent times.

Biochemistry: An Integral Part of Drug Discovery

The on-going pandemic situation gave humanity a hard lesson- life is uncertain. Before the pandemic, we never seriously thought about this type of disease which could lead to such a global health crisis. Now, Covid-19 is a reality and it taught us that as the virus changed itself we must constantly change ourselves and be prepared for sudden battles. Humanity has a long history of fighting against deadly diseases like plague, malaria, polio, cholera, etc. and in all those battles our greatest weapons are drugs. In this article, we will see how biochemistry is an integral part of a drug discovery process.

Biochemistry is the amalgamation of chemistry and biological sciences. It brings together all of the sciences to study the chemical and physical processes that occur in living organisms. It truly is the science of life. Students of biochemistry learn various classical as well as modern subjects like stem cell biology, immunology, bioinformatics, genetic engineering, and many more. These subjects give them ample knowledge about the basic processes of life and that gives them the scope to explore properly a particular phenomenon in a living system. The mixture of chemistry and biology is a tremendous weapon for students for understanding the complex design of a disease-causing bacteria or virus. Applying these knowledge life-saving drugs can be developed by biochemistry professionals.

A drug is a chemical substance that, when administered to a living organism produces a biological effect. Drugs are also called medicine as it is used for treatment, cure, prevent disease, and promote good health. Drugs can be taken via different modes like inhalation, injection, ingestion, absorption via a patch on the skin, suppository, or dissolution under the tongue. So, recently discovered vaccines against Covid-19 are also part of modern-day drugs.

There are several phases of drug discovery and its commercialization; 1) Basic research for lead development 2) Preclinical studies 3) Clinical studies (different phases) 4) Review by regulatory authorities and approval 5) Pre and post marketing monitoring. In all these phases major roles are played by biochemistry people.

The first step of basic research consists of lead molecule discovery and its target identification which is totally done by biomedical scientists. During lead discovery, an intensive search ensues to find a drug-like small molecule or biological therapeutic, typically termed a development candidate, that will progress into preclinical, and if successful, into clinical development and ultimately be a marketed medicine. Generally, drugs are very specific in nature, i.e., they work in a specific manner on a specific type of cell or exo or endotoxins. So, first, to discover the lead, one has to find the type of cell or chemical substances on which the drug is going to affect, what’s the nature of the target.

The next step is the preclinical trial, which is a stage of research that begins before clinical trials (testing in humans) and during which important feasibility, iterative testing, and drug safety data are collected, typically in laboratory animals. This step requires multiple types of studies/tests like screening, tests on isolated organs and bacterial cultures, tests on animal models, general observational tests, confirmatory tests and analogous activities, mechanism of action, systemic pharmacology, quantitative tests etc. that are all done by Biochemistry people. The main purpose of preclinical studies is to accurately model the desired biological effect of a drug in animals [non-human primates] in order to predict treatment outcomes in patients (efficacy), and to identify and characterize all toxicities associated with a drug in order to predict adverse events in people (safety) for informed—preclinical testing analyses the bioactivity, safety, and efficacy of the formulated drug product.

After a proposed drug has gone through premedical trials, the next step is clinical trials. The main difference is while preclinical research answers basic questions about a drug’s safety, it is not a substitute for studies of ways the drug will interact with the human body. The biomedical persons design clinical trials, develop a study plan or protocol and follow them to answer specific research questions related to medical products. Before the trial begins, they decide who qualifies to participate (selection criteria), how many people will be part of the study, how long the study will last, whether there will be a control group and other ways to limit research bias, how the drug will be given to patients and at what dosage, what assessments will be conducted, when, and what data will be collected, how the data will be reviewed and analysed. Clinical trials follow a typical series of early, small-scale, Phase 1 studies [20-100 healthy/diseased volunteers], Phase 3 studies [Several hundred people with the disease], Phase 3 studies [300-3000 volunteers with the disease], and lastly, late-stage, large scale Phase 4 studies [Several thousand volunteers with the disease].

The next step is, review by regulatory authorities and approval of the drug. Drug approval processes are designed to allow safe and effective drugs to be marketed. Drug regulatory agencies in various countries attempt to rely on premarketing scientific studies of the effects of drugs in animals and humans in order to determine if new drugs have a favourable risk-to-benefit ratio. The manufacturer must provide the concerned authority review of all the test and study reports with detailed information about the proposed drug including usage of the drug to be effective, all the possible risks, and how to use it. Physicians and scientists of the concerned authority then review the drug research and the labelling information on how to use the drug. If the findings show the drug’s benefits outweigh its known risks — and that the drug can be manufactured in a way that ensures a quality product.

After the drug gets all the certification, the last step is Post-marketing monitoring. Post marketing drug surveillance refers to the monitoring of drugs once they reach the market after clinical trials. It evaluates drugs taken by individuals under a wide range of circumstances over an extended period of time. Such surveillance is much more likely to detect previously unrecognized positive or negative effects that may be associated with a drug. The majority of post-marketing surveillance concern adverse drug reactions (ADRs) monitoring and evaluation. Therefore, biochemistry people always get an edge in these type of drug developmental industry.

POST-PANDEMIC PROMISING CAREER PROSPECTS IN OPTICAL FIBER SENSOR TECHNOLOGY

Optical fiber is one of the medium and the technology which is mostly linked with the transmission of information signal. More than 90 percent of the world’s long-distance traffic is passed over optical fiber cables now a days as it offers high-performance data networking. Verizon and Google have explored fiber optics in their Verizon FIOS and Google Fiber services which is providing gigabit internet speeds to users. Another emerging area is optical sensing by optical fiber, with countless opportunities spanning many fields including environmental detection, biomedical sensing, and structural monitoring.

Photonics: A sub-discipline of Physics introduce the science of creating, sensing and monitoring photons or light particles

Photonics is the subarea of Physics where light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments. Most significantly, whenever career opportunity on Photonics is point of interest, the other sub-component such as lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics and sophisticated systems is very important. In brief, learning of optical fibersensor technology is sort of diverging your job opportunity in India, Europe and USA.

Optical fiber sensor Industry & Academic sector

Worldwide top ranked companies of optical fiber sensor technology are Organic Robotics, Aerodyne research, Interdisciplinary consulting, NKT Photonics, NP Photonics, Eagle etc. Techno-savvy world demands scientists, engineers and technicians with relevant qualification and experience of photonics. Making a career in optical fiber sensor field is stable and rewarding. Students of Photonics and Optoelectronics are fascinated as sales or service engineers in high-tech equipment industries; High scope as researcher or professional officers in universities, government and industry-research laboratories. There is opportunity as optical communications network support engineers and managers; and also, in defence research and development organizations.

Are you surprise! There are surveys during the past several years portrayed that European workers in the photonics industry are generally satisfied with their jobs, enjoy prolonged vacations and earn a better-than-average living with their highly specialized, technical knowledge.

Global Start-ups Venture of Fiber Optic Sensors2021-2027

Post-pandemic global market of Fiber Optics Sensor is reported in Research and Market.com (Fiber Optic Sensors – Global Market Trajectory & Analytics).Intrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors, is projected to record 8.6% CAGR and reach US$910.3 Million by the end of the analysis period. After an early analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Extrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors segment is readjusted to a revised 6.9% CAGR for the next 7-year period.

he Fiber Optic Sensors market in the U.S. is approximated at US$227.7 Million in the year 2020. China, the world`s second largest economy, is estimated to reach a projected market size of US$328.4 Million by the year 2027 trailing a CAGR of 12.1% over the analysis period 2020 to 2027. Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 4.3% and 7.1% respectively over the 2020-2027 period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 5.1% CAGR.This market growth will accelerate the job opportunities in the optical fiber sensor field.

Why this growth is expected? will it fetch career prospects!

COVID-19, the pandemic, restricted human life within their home, millions of people compelled to work from home and stuck to their computers than ever before. Eventually, now a days, without the help of internet life is difficult. Vodafone already declared in a recent article that data traffic increase by 50% in some markets. Online services are being obstructed, broadband downloading speed becoming low and FWA has limitation. So, continuous demand of optical fiber in telecommunication starts the growth of optical fiber industry.
After pandemic, demand of optical fiber sensor is expected to become more intense, particularly for applications in extreme environmental conditions in which electrical sensors fail to function as effectively. Examples of such applications include the oil & gas and manufacturing sectors.
The strong demand is expected in exploration of unconventional energy resources across the world. Ultra-miniaturized and power-efficient sensors promotion is predicted to contribute significantly to market growth. The market is also driven by applications such as crack monitoring in concrete-based structures.
Advancement of Fiber optic sensors in current scenario is faster and efficient means for identifying structural damages in civil constructions and aircrafts. Sensing intrusion in secured premises, identifying presence of oil in oil reservoirs etc. are the significant applications so far with optical fiber sensor.

These are the reasons why optical fibersonsor technology will continue to remain in focus of global R&D and commercialization efforts in these segments. Post-pandemic era will be demanding for more effective cleavers, low-loss splicers, multi-port couplers, intra-fiber devices, and mode-area transformers etc. Consequently, the associated companies, R & D sector of government and private sectors will create promising career prospects for the students.

COVID impact, new trends and research in Civil Engineering and Construction

For the last two and half years, people of this planet have experienced a pandemic situation due to outbreak of Novel Corona virus. As per the situation, there is scarcely any country that has remained unchanged by the harshness of this virus. Our country is not an exception from this pandemic. Sometimes positivity rate of Corona Virus came down but suddenly it has started a reverse flow towards higher positivity during the last three waves happened till date. Not only the human lives but most of the commercial activities also had been suffering by the pandemic. Some industries might had overcome the pandemic situation but most of them faced much difficulties and obviously construction engineering sector was also in the list.

The construction industry and civil engineering add mainly to the Indian economy. The unfavourable situation due to pandemic has caused all construction projects to come to an end suddenly but the jobs in design sectors were managed by work from home. Construction industry, the main pillar of the national economy had faced a long challenge like regulatory burden under environmental laws which had coupled with the pandemic. Subsequently lockdown imposed to deal with the situation restricting the movement of people, gatherings and strictly maintaining social distance. All these had made a tremendous effect in Indian economy and construction industry has been halted throughout the country.

In India, the dilemma for the Civil engineering sector is high and it is infuriated and hard to treat with as there is no standard format of contracts for construction sector. There could be immense variations in particular state of affairs of a Construction and Engineering contract. Although, there is standard forms of construction and engineering contracts by International Federation of Consulting Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers and Indian Institute of Architects but at that times they are eagerly settled and hence it lost uniformity.

In most of the construction and engineering, contracts parties generally mention the time of completion of works. Due to Novel Corona Virus, workers did not feel safe to work in the construction site and they returned to their home leaving their job. So, many of the projects were not completed in stipulated period and the contractor became a defaulter. In some cases, contractors had to pay compensation for delay in completing the project.

Government of India declared closing of all universities, colleges and schools. The whole education system suffered a lot due to the situation and came to a worst situation. To Cope with the situation, online classes were started but by the method, teacher was unable to identify the effective attendance of a particular student for the entire class session but one good thing is that there is no loss of time for to and fro during online classes and as most of the time students remain at home, they can easily join some other online activities like attending in Webinar, others Professional course etc. to improve their knowledge and skill . In case of normal situation when the students would attend classes physically, it would not be possible for them to attend such courses which even conducting from abroad also.

But online system had disadvantage also. It was not possible exactly to evaluate a student in the online examination as some of students took help of open book, open study materials, internet search and help from friends during examination time. Some students received participation certificate of Webinar without attending attentively.

As a result, some changes happened in Civil Engineering and Construction sector to adopt the situation. Earlier contractors in the sites would to hire many labours to complete the project. But due to pandemic, contractors hired less number of labours and used many machineries in construction works. Ready mix concrete was brought from Batching plant instead of producing concrete at site. Digital system, like Building Information Modelling and integrated project management platforms were already recognized as digital building blocks for the construction industry. Also, repetitive and dangerous works that people want to avoid means implementation of automation can support the industry’s labour and skills crisis. At that moment, robotic automation deals enormous possibility to increase output, efficiency and flexibility of construction process throughout the construction industry, as well as to automate the fabrication of modular houses, robotic welding and material handling on construction sites, robot 3D printing of structures. As well as building the industry safer and more cost efficient, robots are recuperating sustainability and dropping environmental impact by enhancing recycling by means of cutting waste. Robots can produce safer construction by managing heavy loads, working in unsafe locations and enabling safer ways of construction. With the industry producing increased environmental pollution and the need for more cost-effective structures, robotic automation reduces waste by improving quality, which is important when it’s approximated that up to a quarter of materials out of total materials transported to a construction site leaves as waste. With automation and digital technology, Engineers can also design waste out at the beginning of a project through effective Building Information Modelling and construction processes.

Very renowned Universities like us designed Smart Lab by which student can watch a live demonstration of all parts of a particular experiment. Virtual Internship was also arranged for the student. In Virtual Internship, the video of Construction site works were shown to students by the Senior executives of the company. The conduction of recruitment drive was also easier as it was done online. Students had not missed even any event as all were organised by online mode. By using of digital library, students were able to view and download books, journals. Research activities were not stopped also during the pandemic situation. Researcher provided priority on Analytical research than Descriptive research in the current situation and also changed the area of research to suit Analytical research.

In a concluding remark, Every problem has a best solution; you just need to discover it.

Further Studies

Microbiologist: A prominent career choice for biology students

Biology aspirants at School level:

While the interest in studying biology at School level starts with understanding cells, both plants and animals, it takes a peak during the study of human system. While traditional zoology, botany and physiology creates the base for understanding biology, advancements in the form of microbiology, immunology, biotechnology, recombinant DNA technology etc. paves the path of inquisitiveness among the biology lovers at the school level. This lead to the selection of medical or non-medical biological subjects as career option for the aspirant biologists.

Exploring the less known world:

Microbiology has always been frontrunner among the choice of such biology-aspirants for their studies at undergraduate level beyond medical education (Refer: https://adamasuniversity.ac.in/microbiologyplus-the-most-promising-career-path-beyond-medical-education/ ).

‘Knowing the unknown and seeing the unseen” has been the trend of human acumen since the inception of human race. Microbiology stimulates this, with the challenge of finding novel microorganism (bacteria, virus, protozoa, algae etc.) and a plethora of their magnificent properties. Till date the share of known microorganisms has not even reached 1% posing immense prospect for the future. The microbial world extends from the hottest region of the world to the coolest, from the top of the Everest to the Mariana trench and from the gut of human to the solar panel. Diversity of microorganisms holds the key and charm to study the subject.

Knowledge, Skill and Competency development:

Striking balance between diversity as well as specialization is important during the selection of stream/ subject to be opted for career. The three major focus on the 3-4 year undergraduate degree as well as 1-2 years of post-graduate degree lies in the development of theoretical knowledge, technical skills and more importantly competency as life-long learner. Studies in microbiology provides a well-balanced blending of these enhancing theoretical knowledge to strive for innovation, hands-on skills to work in an industry/ research as well as gain like skills and competency to remain relevant and updated despite rapid technological evolution.

Curriculum:

Studies in microbiology at undergraduate as well as post graduate level is generally divided into several courses as mentioned in the following:

Fundamental Courses: Bacteriology, Virology, Biochemistry etc.
Advanced Courses: Immunology, molecular Biology, microbial genetics etc.
Applied Courses: Food and Dairy Microbiology, Medical Microbiology, Agricultural Microbiology, Industrial Microbiology etc.
Skill Enhancement Courses: Quality Control & Quality Assurance, Vaccine Technology, Bioinformatics, Intellectual Property Right (IPR) etc.

Most academic institutions follow a Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) to design their curriculum of Microbiology. However, a few institutions also offer ‘Outcome Based Education’, a student centric educational model employed to maximize learning outcome of the enrolled students.

Infrastructure, facility and Instructors:

Studies in microbiology require sophisticated instruments, well-equipped laboratories and well trained instructors to create a strong base for the students. Unfortunately, many institutions lack these facilities and treat it alongside other conventional subjects. The major requirements in supporting all round development of a microbiologists includes (not limited to):

Laboratory Facility (Basic): Laboratory with Bio-Safety Level: I (BSL-I)
Instruments (Basic): Microscope, Autoclave, Laminar Air Flow, Centrifuge etc.
Instruments (Sophisticated): -80°C freezer, Phase contrast microscope, UV-Vis Spectrophotometer, HPLC etc.
Facility: Animal Cell Culture, Plant Tissue Culture, Animal House etc.
Co curricular Facility: Tinkering Lab, Incubation Centre, Fabrication Lab etc.

technicians trained in microbiology. However, most of the institutes run the UG and PG program in microbiology employing faculty members from other domain of biology (e.g. botany, zoology etc.) not having requisite exposure and expertise in the core domains of microbiology. The emergence of microbiology as a specialized field of biology also demands the involvement and guidance of personnel from the field of microbiology for proper dissemination of knowledge and skill of aspirant microbiologists. People having relevant industrial exposure adds on significant weightage in terms of leveraging benefit to the students.

Career path:

Despite of the abundance of open source information and higher digital access/ literacy, career path remains unclear to most students at the entry level to graduation. Over rated courses, glorified outcome and rationalizing odd success stories make students a victim during admissions. The following career path of microbiologists are stated to uncover the potential strength as well as challenges to be faced:

Teaching: ‘Teacher shapes the future of the coming generation’ This still motivates a lot of students to take up teaching at various level viz. school, college or university as their preferred profession. Microbiology graduates are not only eligible to appear for most of the school level recruitment process (e.g. School Service Commission, WB) they find it ease during exam and highly relevant during teaching. Joining colleges (both govt. or private) after the completion of M.Sc. in Microbiology is a lucrative option while clearing NET (National Eligibility Test)is highly competitive. Teaching at university level having independent research career, guiding Ph.D. students is also highly sought after career.
Researcher/Scientists: Most of the students of microbiology aspire to pursue Ph.D. on completion of their M.Sc. and conduct research for creation of knowledge towards human and societal development. There are plenty of research institutes, universities offering position of Junior Research Fellow (JRF), Senior Research Fellow (SRF) in the domain of microbiology (e.g. IISER, IIT, Bose Institute, NIBMG, IACS, IICB etc.). Research funding is mostly obtained from government through Department of Science & Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) etc. The researchers receive good amount of fellowship during the PhD tenure, through these schemes. After completion of PhD, students join institutes as senior researchers or scientists. Alternatively, they continue their research as Post-Doctoral Fellow in India or Abroad. The offer of fellowship at this level is attractive and often higher than the salary offered through regular employment.
Industry: While knowledge is created at the university level, its implementation is seen in the industry. There is a boom of biotechnology and allied industries that require trained microbiologists at various level. UG level students are employed as Trainee, laboratory technicians etc. in the Quality Control, production department. While students completing M.Sc. are recruited as QC executive, microbiologists etc. Students having Ph.D. are mostly employed in the R&D division. It is to be emphasized that all pharmaceutical, food, biotech industries have definite requirements of microbiologists as a part of regulatory compliances. Hence, there lies a constant need of microbiologists at various industries.
Entrepreneurship: The present generation of students have found a suitable solution to the problem of unemployment by the creation of start-up employing their domain knowledge or interest. Several innovative ideas in the form of product or service has led to the development of enterprise making the students ‘job creators rather than job seekers’. Microbiology has enough scope of developing products related to medical, agricultural and also of inter-disciplinary nature that can be nurtured in the incubation facility in creating a start-up. The Govt. is constantly encouraging such activities with various financial and regulatory support through creation of proper start-up ecosystem at the higher educational institutions.

Thus, Microbiology offers enough scope of quenching thirst for knowledge, ignition towards innovation and having a successful career. However, the success highly depends on the quality of training obtained during academic tenure and perseverance.