The Department of Biotechnology formerly known as the Department of Biosciences was established under the guidance of the then Principal Late Prof. Newman Fernandes in the Science Block of St. Xavier’s College in the year 2005.

The department as of the year 2023, has completed 18 years since its inception and has witnessed a total of 16 graduating batches. Mrs. Marina Monteiro of the Department of Microbiology was appointed as the first Head of Department. The department was privileged to have the leadership of the subsequent Head of Department Ms. Ursula Barretto and the Course Co-ordinators Ms. Jocelyn Fernandes and Ms. Anabel Alphonso.

The department that had humble beginnings as a small laboratory, grew in its infrastructure over the years and in the year 2021, was relocated to Block E. The new premises comprises 3 well-equipped wet laboratories, a bioinformatics laboratory, Plant and Animal tissue culture laboratories, a preparation room, a staffroom and 3 LCD installed classrooms that have greatly enhanced the teaching and learning process. The departmental library has a range of reference books, e books, journals and skill-based resource books.

The department also successfully completed a 3-year DST- Goa minor project, titled ‘Isolation and Purification of Cellulases from Mangrove soils of Goa, and its applications in the Isolation of Protoplast.’

The department was awarded the ‘DBT Star College Scheme’ in the year 2021 along with other Undergraduate Science departments of the college, which has given our students and staff a greater scientific exposure in terms of hands-on training in practical, study trips and the improvement of facilities. Various activities like Workshops, Seminars, Webinars, Lecture series etc. are being conducted under this scheme.

The Department of Biotechnology organizes a state level inter Higher Secondary event “Biowizards” to enhance the interest of the students in the field of science. The students of the department are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities and they have participated in numerous inter collegiate events like Chiasma, Synapse, CultRang, Esperanza etc. and were Winners at ‘Chiasma 7.0’- an intercollegiate event organised by Dhempe College of Arts & Science, Miramar.

The department organizes various intra departmental and interdepartmental activities such as Competitions, Study trips, Workshops and Seminars. The students in the past have undertaken Industrial visits to a Brewery, food processing unit and effluent treatment plant and field trips to ICAR-CCARI -Old Goa, CSIR-NIO- Dona Paula and an outstation Study Tour and training workshop at ‘BioEra Life Science Research Facility, Pune. Various Guest speakers and Specialists in the field of Biotechnology are invited to deliver a talk to the students. These events are all well documented in the departmental newsletter “Sequence” which is published annually to give the readers a glimpse into the alluring world of Biotechnology.

The students have worked on various research projects in the fields of Microbiology, Nanotechnology, Hydroponics and the development of Eco-friendly products. The faculty and students have published their research findings in the College Journal “Spectrum” and in SCOPUS Journals namely Materials Technology and Materials Science & Engineering. Some faculty members are members of the Board of Studies in Biotechnology at Goa University. Students also undertake training/internships during vacations at pathological laboratories, pharmaceuticals, or research institutes.