The Department of Biological Sciences at IISER Kolkata integrates cutting edge research with innovative teaching at undergraduate and post-graduate levels, constantly striving towards academic and scientific excellence. Since its inception in 2006, the department has made its mark in biology research and teaching in India. Focusing on the essential unity among biological systems, research in the department spans from the molecular to the organismal levels. Research interests of many faculty members also intersect closely with that of colleagues in the departments of Physical, Chemical, Mathematical and Earth sciences, giving rise to a truly interdisciplinary research climate. Broad fields of research in the Department of Biological Sciences include cell and molecular biology, developmental biology, neurobiology, computational biology, structural biology and biophysics, environmental biology and animal behavior and ecology. Various model systems, ranging from bacteria and human cells to fruitflies, zebrafish, ants, dogs and mice are being used for research in the department.

Research and teaching in the Department of Biological Sciences is supported by state of the art instruments and facilities such as confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, histopathology, tissue culture and facilities for housing and conducting research on various organisms. These are maintained as departmental and institutional facilities, providing easy accessibility to all investigators and allowing collaborative and interdisciplinary research to flourish in the department.

The strength of the department lies in its twenty six faculty members. Many of the faculty members hold prestigious national and international fellowships. More than hundred PhD students, forty integrated PhD students, along with several project fellows, research assistant and support staff constitute the core strength of the department. Moreover, the undergraduate students from the BS-MS programme, who are majoring in Biological Sciences, constitute an important part of the department. Together, all these members of the department make it into a happening place where people are engaged in unravelling the mysteries of nature and are also paving the path for the application of our research in addressing problems in human health and disease.

The diverse fields of research, and the expertise and enthusiasm of department members in an intellectually stimulating interdisciplinary climate, make the Department of Biological Sciences a very dynamic place for nurturing the next generation of scientists, and for developing an excellent research programme directed towards answering various outstanding questions in biology.