The scope of ITMO University’s Faculty of Biotechnologies (BioTech) covers food, environmental, agricultural, and genomic biotechnologies.

The field’s relevance is set out not only in item 20Г of the programs of Scientific and Technological Development of Russia but also in UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals, which include elimination of hunger, clean water, sanitation, sustainable consumption and production, as well as preservation of terrestrial ecosystems.

The BioTech is chaired by Mikhail Kurushkin, PhD, head of RSF (20-78-10135) and RFBR (19-013-00610) grants, author of many publications in the Journal of Chemical Education, IUCrJ, and Chemistry-A European Journal.

It offers quality education ensured by high-class specialists, including Olesya Volokh, PhD (Danone S.A., Lomonosov Moscow State University) and Masamba Kah, PhD (MISiS, RUDN University).

The Bachelor’s programs:

• Biotechnology.

The Master’s programs:

• Food Production Processes and Equipment; 

• Industrial Ecology;

• Agrobiotechnology;

• Applied Genomics;

• FoodTech;

The PhD programs:

• Technology of Meat, Dairy, Fish Products and Refrigerating Manufactures;

• Biotechnology of Food and Biological Active Substances;

• Processes and Devices of Food Production.

BioTech students take an active part in the organization of international and national events and projects, including the prestigious Mendeleev-150 Conference under the aegis of IUPAC, BioPrint Workshop headed by Eugenia Kumacheva, and the citizen science project Internet of Bacteria at ITMO University.

BioTech’s International Advisory Board consists of world-renowned researchers in the field of biotechnologies, including Mika Sillanpää and Vadim Kessler.

BioTech’s guest lecturers are top-tier specialists in biotechnology:

• Larisa Rudenko (MIT ranked #1 in QS Global World University Rankings 2021);

• Zhihong Nie (Fudan University ranked #34 in QS Global World University Rankings 2021);

• Sergei Sheiko (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, ranked #95 in QS Global World University Rankings 2021);

• Irina Borodina (Technical University of Denmark ranked #103 in QS Global World University Rankings 2021);

• Michael Gelinsky (Dresden University of Technology ranked #173 in QS Global World University Rankings 2021).

During the academic year 2019-2020, BioTech students did their internships at leading biotech companies:

• Coca-Cola HBC Russia;

• Jacobs Douwe Egberts RUS;

• Heineken Brewery LLC;

• Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods;

• Danone S.A.;

• Baltika Brewery, etc.