ICAR-CIFE RA and JRF CRISPR Project Recruitment 2026

ICAR-CIFE RA and JRF Recruitment 2026: Overview

ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education (ICAR-CIFE), the deemed university of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in Mumbai, is hiring a Research Associate (RA) and a Junior Research Fellow (JRF). Both posts sit in a Department of Biotechnology (DBT)-funded project titled "Development and Characterization of CRISPR-Cas9 mediated Myostatin Gene Knockout Muscle Cell Line for Cultivated Seafood Development".

In simple words, the project uses gene editing to build fish muscle cell lines that can be grown into lab-made seafood. If you have worked with cell culture or genome editing during your master's or after it, this is a rare chance to do that work in a funded fisheries project. Hiring is through an email application followed by a walk-in interview at the institute's Yari Road campus.

Posts and Disciplines

• Research Associate (RA): the senior project position, meant for a researcher with an M.F.Sc. in Fish Biotechnology or an M.Sc. in Life Science or Biotechnology who already has three years of research experience in genome editing, cell culture or biotechnology and at least two research papers in that area.
• Junior Research Fellow (JRF): the entry-level fellowship for a fresh postgraduate in the same subjects; no research experience is required, and the fellowship rises in the third year.

For both posts, the institute prefers candidates with hands-on skills in cell culture, cultivated meat or seafood, and genome editing.

Service Conditions and Caveats

• Project-bound contract: The engagement is for three years and ends automatically when the project sanction ends. It gives you no claim to a regular ICAR post or to absorption later.
• Rules: Tenure and service conditions follow ICAR guidelines for RA and JRF positions.
• Place of work: ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai.
• Screening first: Only candidates who meet every eligibility condition will be called to the walk-in interview.
• Selection basis: Your academic record, research experience and interview performance decide the result.
• No other job: You agree not to take up any other work during the project without written permission from the Project PI.
• Travel: No TA/DA is paid for attending the interview.

Application Submission Notes

Fill in the application format attached to the advertisement and email it to mukunda@cife.edu.in. If you are claiming any age relaxation for category or previous employment, send the supporting certificates along with your documents.

Shortlisted candidates attend the walk-in interview at 11:00 AM at the ICAR-CIFE Yari Road campus, Versova, Andheri (West), Mumbai.