Biology is the main engine driving the future economic and social developments in the 21st Century. The mission of the programme is to generate and transfer knowledge, cultivate future star scientists, and train all-round citizens for our society. The programme places emphasis on both research and education. The programme has received major funding support from the University Grants Committee and is recognized as the Area of Excellence (AoE) on Plant and Fungal Biotechnology. In collaboration with major national and international scientific institutes, this AoE centre tackles major agricultural and health problems using state-of-the-art technologies. Through the AoE centre, the programme also participates in the China national programme of rice functional genomics and is responsible for the part of seed quality. At the University level, the Marine Biotechnology research programme is also recognized as one of the strategic research areas of CUHK. The Simon F S Li Marine Science Laboratory is equipped with full-fledged research and teaching laboratories. Current research is focused on the physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology of marine animals, especially that of fish and shrimps, in relation to fisheries and agriculture and the biology and ecology of planktonic and coral reef organisms.