Biomolecular Spectroscopy

By Prof.Ashutosh Kumar | IIT Bombay

Learners enrolled: 962 | Exam registration: 150

ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course will cover the established spectroscopic techniques for the study of biomolecules, along with their practical applications. This course will assist students in selecting and assessing appropriate spectroscopic techniques for studying biomolecules.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: M. Sc./ PhD, Teachers and Scientists working in academic institutes and industries

PREREQUISITES: Under graduate level understanding of Chemistry & Biology

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Biocon, Wockhardt, Aurobindo Biopharma etc.

Summary

Course Status :	Ongoing
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	8 weeks
Category :	Chemistry
Credit Points :	2
Level :	Postgraduate
Start Date :	16 Feb 2026
End Date :	10 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends :	16 Feb 2026
Exam Registration Ends :	27 Feb 2026
Exam Date :	24 Apr 2026 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Absorption Spectroscopy: Theory of absorption of light by molecules: propagation of an electromagnetic wave through space. Jablonski diagram. Instrumentation. Beer’s law and the extinction coefficient. Chromophore: factors affecting the absorption properties of a chromophore. solvent-induced heterogeneity, red-shifts and blue shifts; polarity vs polarizability of the medium

Week 2: Absorption Spectroscopy (contd). Spectral shifts in rhodopsin and vision. Structural studies DNA using absorption spectroscopy. Helix coil transition of double stranded DNA. Melting curve of DNA: Hyperchromicity & hypochromicity. Structural studies of proteins using absorption spectroscopy. Practical Considerations: Spectral bandwidth, wavelength error & stray light

Week 3: Circular Dichroism (CD) Spectroscopy. Introduction. Linearly and circularly polarized light. Instrumentation. Experimental: sample concentration and cell pathlength. Solvent effects. Characteristics of CD & ORD (optical rotatory dispersion) spectroscopy: Cotton Effect. Identification of known optical isomers

Week 4: Circular Dichroism (CD) Spectroscopy (contd). Determination of protein secondary structure. Detection of molten globule like structure of proteins. Determination of nucleic acid conformations. Use of CD spectroscopy to study stacking orientation of the base pairs. Applications of CD spectroscopy in studying amyloid based neurodegenerative disorders

Week 5: Fluorescence Spectroscopy. Theory of fluorescence spectroscopy. Photoluminescence, emission, and absorption. Stokes Shift. How does a fluorescence spectrophotometer work? Solvent and Environmental Effects on Fluorescence. Inner filter effect in fluorescence.

Week 6: Fluorescence Spectroscopy (cont.). Intrinsic fluorescence measurements for studying biomolecules. Protein fluorescence. Extrinsic fluorescence. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Fluorescence quenching

Week 7: Fluorescence Spectroscopy (cont.). Fluorescence quenching (contd.). Stern-Volmer Equation. Fluorescence Anisotropy: Brownian motion and photo selection. Fluorescence Anisotropy (contd.). GFP and its applications. Novel Fluorophores: Quantum Dots. Time-resolved Fluorescence and its applications for protein dynamics

Week 8: Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy. Theory of Infrared absorption. Introducing FT-IR: Interferometry. Instrumentation: IR sources, detectors, and beam splitter. FTIR analysis of proteins: amide I and amide II bonds. Studying DNA/RNA conformational changes.

Books and references

Physical Biochemistry: Applications to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology by David Freifelder.
Spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry: a practical approach by Michael G. Gore
Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy by J. R. Lakowicz, 3rd edition
Biophysical Chemistry, Part 2: Techniques for the Study of Biological Structure and Function by Cantors and Shimmel

Instructor bio

Prof.Ashutosh Kumar

IIT Bombay

Prof Ashutosh Kumar, is working as a Professor in the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay, Mumbai. His work involves studying the structure and mechanism of action of protein complexes such SCF complex, specialized Nucleosome, and amyloid fibrils using state of the art solid- state and solution-state NMR spectroscopy along with other Biophysical tools. Ashutosh has made significant contribution in developing NMR methods and applying those on complex biological macromolecules to deduce structure and dynamics of these molecules. In recent time, he started working in the field of Biopharmaceuticals where he develops novel NMR methods to investigate HOS of Biosimilars and Biologics in their formulation states.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 24, 2026 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 6 assignments out of the total 8 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Bombay .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

SWAYAM Helpline / Support