GDCB integrates experimental and computational research approaches with instructional and pedagogical innovation in three primary focus areas. The GDCB Department is dedicated to biological discovery and excellence in undergraduate and graduate education, with research and teaching missions encompassing fundamental cellular and subcellular processes, including genome dynamics, cell structure and function, cellular metabolism, cellular response to environmental and developmental signals, and molecular mechanisms of development.

The Department has identified three primary focus areas in which it already enjoys a strong representation – Genome Dynamics, Cellular Biology and Development. The other research areas of computational biology and metabolic networking, as well as instructional and pedagogical innovation, are integrated into multiple focus areas.