The life science programs at HKUST are undergoing a major reorganization process with the full integration of former Department of Biochemistry and Department of Biology and the establishment of a new Division of Life Science. This reorganization process is fully supported by the university administration who agrees to add a substantial number of faculty lines to the Division in the next few years. We believe that the newly formed Division can significantly enhance our competitiveness in research and teaching, allow us to better utilize resources, and further promote collaboration both within the Division and with other Departments and schools.

The Division offers rigorous and competitive undergraduate and postgraduate programs in life science. Currently, we have ~490 undergraduate students and ~150 postgraduate students. The Division is expected to offer additional new undergraduate programs to cope with the 3-3-4 transition in 2012, a major reform in the higher education sector in Hong Kong.

The Division has 29 full-time faculty members with significant expertise in the areas of cellular regulation and signaling, cancer biology, developmental biology, molecular and cellular neuroscience, macromolecular structure and function, marine and environmental science, biotechnology and medicinal biochemistry, etc. The Division is the home of the the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, the only one at HKUST and one of the twelve in Hong Kong. In addition, the Division has a large collection of the state-of-the-art major equipment and is a major stakeholder of the Biosciences Central Research Facility (BioCRF).

Our mission is to sustain and promulgate a reputable academic program in life science by achieving excellence in research and education, and by making significant contributions to biotechnological innovations at regional and international arenas. We strive to provide an ideal environment for student learning and for tackling the challenges in modern life science.