Recently a novel concurrent Teacher Education degree has been introduced, which allows participants to study the undergraduate programme in Biological Sciences while simultaneously acquiring a GTC-recognised Teacher Education qualification. The Department has 13 members of staff plus seven postdoctoral research fellows. It conducts high-quality research in fundamental and applied aspects of Bioscience. Multidisciplinary research is undertaken with several University departments, and with the Strathclyde Institute for Drug Research. Staff also have valuable research collaborations with external bodies including the Universities of Dundee and Glasgow, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Yorkhill Hospital, the Hannah Research Institute and the Scottish Crop Research Institute.
Industrial links exist with several UK and international companies.
There are 20 PhD and 10 MPhil students in the Department. Dr Mike Mattey, Dr Kevin Smith, Prof John Watson Projects cover research into Inflammatory Diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and analysis of Microenzymes and of a group of enzymes known as Aldo-keto Reductases. It also embraces multidisciplinary research into diagnosing and treating language impairment in children. Microbiology Dr John Anderson, Dr Linda Harvey, Dr Brian McNeil, Dr Neil Rowan Research in this area focuses on the microbiological safety of foods and on fermentation and bioprocessing. The main themes of activity are Bioremediation, Biocontrol and Stress.