Professor Ren Bangzhe, a renowned Chinese biochemist and medical educator, was the first to introduce the biochemistry course at Xiangya Medical College in the 1940s and founded the Biochemistry Teaching and Research Section in 1942.In 1978, the Biochemistry Teaching and Research Section was reorganized into the Biochemistry Teaching and Research Section and the Biochemistry Research Laboratory.The laboratory was renamed the Molecular Biology Laboratory in 1984 and further upgraded to the Molecular Biology Research Center in 1995.With the establishment of the College of Biological Science and Technology, Central South University in 2003, the Molecular Biology Research Center was affiliated to the College, and the Department of Molecular Biology was founded at the same time. In 2017, the Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Molecular Biology merged into the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.In 1981, it was approved as one of the first master's degree authorization programs in biochemistry and molecular biology in China. In 1990, it was authorized to confer doctoral degrees, and in 1994, it established a postdoctoral research station. In 2000, it was designated as a doctoral degree authorization program in the primary discipline of biology.

Former Directors of the Biochemistry Teaching and Research Section: Ren Bangzhe, Lu Yiqin, Fu Minzhuang, Song Huiping, Chen Hanchun, Wang Jun, He Hailun; Former Directors of the Molecular Biology Research Center: Zhu Ding'er, Xie Shensi, Hu Weixin, Liu Jing; Former Directors of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: Liu Jing, Zeng Zhaojun, Xiao Xiaojuan.

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has 28 faculty members, including 9 professors, 1 distinguished professor, 12 associate professors, 3 distinguished associate professors and 3 lecturers, among whom 8 are doctoral tutors.The department consists of the Biochemistry Teaching and Research Section, the Molecular Biology Teaching and Research Section, and the Molecular Biology Research Center.

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is responsible for teaching courses such as "Biochemical Technology and Applications,"  "Advanced Biochemistry,"  "Advanced Molecular Biology,"  "Biochemistry," and "Molecular Biology."

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology focuses on the following research areas: molecular mechanisms of hematopoietic development regulation and related diseases; molecular mechanisms of tumor occurrence, metabolism and treatment; research on metabolism and synthesis of medicinal plants, targeted drugs, and antibacterial peptide mechanisms; studies on stem cells, development, and anti-aging mechanisms; genetic basis and applications of microbial enzymology and genetics, and research on active peptides; research on mechanisms of immune and metabolic diseases, etc.

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has established close collaborations with research institutions including the New York Blood Center, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the National Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, and Sun Yat-sen University.