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The Department of Biotechnology, part of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, was established in 2002 with the merger of the former Departments of Biochemistry and Microbiology.

The Department prides itself on it research activities. With only 11 academic staff, we currently support a large post-graduate program comprising some 16 Honours students, 25 Masters, 20 PhD and 12 Post-Doctoral researchers. With the recent acquisition of new academic staff members, these numbers are expected to rise substantially in the next few years. Our research activities include food, industrial and environmental microbiology, plant biotechnology, structural biology and molecular diagnostics. The acquisition in 2003 of South Africa’s first protein X-ray crystallography facility, funded by the Carnegie Corporation, was a major boost to the research capacity of the Department.

The Department also supports a large and active undergraduate teaching program, starting at BSc II level. In addition to our own students, we undertake service teaching in biochemistry and microbiology for many other degree programs, including Pharmacy, and Medical Biosciences. Each year we graduate approximately 35 students with a BSc in Applied Biotechnology, the best of whom proceed on to Honours and higher degrees in this and other South African universities. The teaching activities in the Department are very well supported by a small cadre of exceedingly loyal and dedicated Technical staff members.