The Science of Biology, which is claimed to be the Science of 21st century, is of vital importance for Turkey too, because of the necessity to establish environmental policies, prevent the erosion of biological variation, and activate sectors that use biotechnology. When the advances in the developed countries in the fields of gene engineering and biotechnology are considered, the importance of the contribution of the Department of Biological Sciences have been making by preparing its students for future responsibilities becomes more apparent.
Major research areas in which the faculty are currently involved, are generally related to the application of biological technologies to industrial, medical or environmental problems.
The Modern Biology Graduate Programme was established in 1970 in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In 1975, this Programme was transformed into the Department of Life Sciences offering B.Sc as well as M.Sc and Ph.D degrees, hiring sufficient number of faculty members and establishment of research laboratories and teaching laboratories. Today, there are 15 professors, 6 associate professors, 1 assistant professors, 1 instructor, 1 expert and 26 teaching and research assistants in the Department and they are involved in research programmes in accordance with the rapid succession of scientific developments in biology which especially gained impetus after 1955, in genetics, molecular biology, biotechnology, ecology, biochemistry, biophysics and biomaterials. Our graduates are well equipped with the knowledge and the capability to do research to catch up with the new developments in biological sciences and are expected to meet the needs of the country in the future. The graduates have very good employment opportunities in the research centres of the both state and the industry and also at the educational institutions.
The Department offers two major undergraduate degree programmes; namely, Molecular Biology-Genetics, and Biology. Each year 30 students are accepted to Molecular Biology-Genetic programme and 30 students are accepted to Biology Programme. The department also offers the courses in the core programme to the students of the Biology-Education Department. The number of M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in the department are around 60 and 30, respectively. Faculty members of the Department also offer graduate programme (M.Sc. and Ph. D.) in Biochemistry and Biotechnology.