Changes in economy towards science and technology require new profile of knowledge and skills to be incorporated into academic criteria. Globally, biotechnology represents a major driver for a high technology professional carreer. The demands from the biotechnology work force sector for development of knowledge and competencies were a major driving force for starting the B.E. Biotechnology program at BITS in the Middle East. The Department of Biotechnology established in the year 2007, offers B.E. Biotechnology & M.E. Biotechnology. It houses a total of six state of the art laboratories which are active in teaching and research. The main objectives of the department are 

The department of biotechnology has collaboration with Department of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA for exchange of faculty and students, visit of experts and scientists between both the organizations and transfer of students to higher degree program. The department also collaborates with International centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) for engaging in R&D activities such as biosaline agriculture and biofertilizer development.  As a part of MoU there is a provision for Internship (PS) for students through short term and long term projects at both the institutes.

The research & development in biotechnology is constantly growing and expanding into other industrial sectors, a true driving force of interdisciplinary applications. Research activities in the department of biotechnology covers wide range of interdisciplinary research focused on fundamental biology and applied biotechnology. The department encourages collaborative research and interaction between students and faculty. Faculty members   have presented their research work in international conferences and symposiums.  The major research areas include Applied Microbiology, Environmental biotechnology, Biosensor technology, Agricultural biotechnology, Computational Biology and Water Quality Modeling and Simulation. The ongoing research projects are bioluminescent bacteria for development of biosensors, studies on desert ecology, biodiversity, conservation of endangered plants, development of biofertilizers, molecular characterization rhizobia, microalgal biotechnology and water quality modeling & simulation. 

The state-of-the-art research laboratories of department are advanced molecular biology, microbiology, genetic engineering and bioprocess engineering & Instrumental methods of analysis ,  equipped with UV- Visible spectrophotometers, DNA and protein gel electrophoresis systems, gel documentation system, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), refrigerated centrifuges, spectofluorimeter, multilabe plate reader, Fourier Transform Infra Red spectroscopy, High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Gas Chromatography (GC), High performance Thin layer chromatography, Polarimeter, Inductively coupled plasma-Optical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES), Lyophilizer, CO2 and BOD incubators and Fermentor.