Biotechnology is an emerging comprehensive discipline based on modern life science and intersecting with multiple disciplines such as agriculture, medicine, and food. It uses high-tech molecular biology and cell biology methods to process and modify biological raw materials and even organisms for scientific research and production. The biotechnology industry is hailed as a sunrise industry of the 21st century. As a priority development area of the industrial structure at the national strategic level, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Several Policies to Promote the Accelerated Development of the Biotechnology Industry" in June 2009, positioning the biotechnology industry as a pillar industry in the high-tech field and a national strategic emerging industry. In recent years, the development momentum in fields such as biomedicine, food fermentation, bio-agriculture, bioenergy, bio-manufacturing, and bio-environmental protection has been strong. In economically developed regions such as the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, a large number of biotechnology high-tech enterprises have emerged, and the demand for biotechnology talents has been increasing year by year.

There are 20 full-time teachers in the Department of Biotechnology, including 7 professors, 9 associate professors and 4 lecturers. 70% of the teachers have overseas study experience. The teaching has a distinct international feature and the academic research ability is outstanding. In the past five years, they have presided over 45 national, provincial, ministerial and municipal scientific research projects, with more than 20 million yuan in research funds. They have published over 200 SCI-indexed papers as the first or corresponding author. The academic level is high, with many papers having an impact factor greater than 10. The research focuses on the hotspots of national economy and people's livelihood. They have published many research papers on the novel coronavirus and served on the front line of the fight against the epidemic.

The core and characteristic courses offered by the major include General Biology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Immunology, Biochemical Separation Technology, Genetic Engineering, Cell Engineering, Enzyme Engineering, Fermentation Engineering, etc. The discipline where the Biotechnology major is located has a first-level discipline master's degree point in Biology and is a key major (category) of Jiangsu Province's higher education institutions during the "12th Five-Year Plan".