The institute developed -omic and bioinformatic tools and databases that can be applied to the study of human, animal and plant diseases as well as the discovery of new vaccine, drug and diagnostic targets.

[citation needed] In January 2005, it moved into a new building on the main Virginia Tech's campus, called "Bioinformatics Facility Phase I and II", but retained its existing space in the CRC.

It pursues research and development in interaction-based modeling, simulation, and associated analysis, experimental design, and decision support tools for understanding large biological, information, social, and technological systems.

Specific diseases and disease-causing agents under investigation include anthrax, West Nile virus, smallpox, and cryptosporidiosis The division collaborates with Georgetown University and Social and Scientific Systems on the Administrative Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-funded Proteomics Research Resource Center (PRC) for Biodefense Proteomics Research project.

The Biological Systems Division develops computational methods for studying biochemical networks using experimental data .

The Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory was founded in 2002 to investigate fundamental mechanisms of gut enteric immunity, and identifying biomarkers and therapeutic targets for inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases.

Its Center for Modeling Immunity to Enteric Pathogens Program is applying high performance computing techniques to model and simulate human immunology systems and help immunologists conduct quick in silico experiments to narrow down experimental design, validate their hypotheses and save significant time and laboratory cost.

It has recently established a partnership with the Division of Gastroenterology at the Carilion Clinic to launch a joint translational research program in inflammatory bowel diseases.

It also provides Nexgen sequence assembly and annotation; microarray design, analysis and interpretation; mass spec data analysis; data QC; hypothesis generation; experimental design; statistical data analysis K–12 programs include "Kids' Tech University," (an educational research program for sparking interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines), the Climate Change Student Summit for teachers and students, and high school summer internships.