Established in 1999, the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology of the Isfahan University of Technology was the first independent academic department empowered by the Minister for Higher Education to engage in postgraduate studies in biotechnology in Iran. Today the department accommodates 6 working academic staff plus 3 studying staff with more than 50 Masters and PhD students either graduated or working towards it. The department interests include horticultural biotechnology, filed crop biotechnology, molecular plant-microbe interaction, recombinant proteins and more recently nono-biotechnology. The research is conducted in the Laboratory of Protein Chemistry & Functional Genomics, Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology, Laboratory of Genetic Engineering & Transformation and Laboratory of Plant Tissue Culture. Some of the department research topics include :
* Phylogenetic analysis by molecular markers of pomegranate, pistachio, grapevine, apple, quince, strawberry, wheat, potato, alfalfa, Rizobium species and endophytic fungi
* Tissue culture and germplasm production for potato, petunia and garlic
* Plant transformation for drought-tolerance and disease resistance
* Production and study of various recombinant peptides and proteins
* Proteomics analysis of pomegranate and Medicago truncatula
