Department of Biochemistry, established in 1960, has been in the forefront of research and teaching of biochemistry to medical students in the country. Headed till 1995 by late Prof. D. P. Burma, one of the eminent biochemists of his time, the department has grown phenomenally through the years. The department offers training to MBBS, MD (Biochemistry), MD (Ay.)/MS (Ay.), BDS and BSc (Nursing) students, besides supervising research for the award of PhD in Biochemistry. The department provides stimulating environment for research and teaching, and has awarded 61 MD (Biochemistry) and 58 Ph.D. (Biochemistry) degrees by close of 2016. The MD (Biochemistry) course is considered to be one of the best in the country due to exposure of medical graduates to the state-of-the-art research techniques in cell and molecular biology.

The department is presently awarded FIST grant by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, and is a component of DST Unit on Nanoscience & Technology (DST-UNANST) of Banaras Hindu University to carry out research on application of nanotechnology to biomedical sciences. Research projects in the department have been supported by various national (DST, Nanomission, DBT, CSIR, ICMR, UGC etc.) and international (Humboldt Foundation, Germany) funding agencies throughout the years. The highly trained faculty has consistently published in reputed national and international peer-reviewed journals and participated in conferences in frontier areas. Establishment of 'Centre for Translational Research on Platelet Signaling and Trombosis Biology' has been shotr-listed by DBT towards possible funding under Categorty I: Centre of Excellence (COE) in Biotechnology.
The department offers excellent opportunity of research in the following areas:
1. Platelet Biology and Signal Transduction
2. Application of Nanotechnology in Biology/Medicine
3. Thrombus Biology
4. Platelet Proteomics, Phospho-proteomics and transcriptomics
5. Human Genetics (specific reference to thalassemia and hemophilia)
6. Clinical Biochemistry
7. Haptoglobins polymorphism and Antioxidant research