The objective of the Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Symposium (BIOT) is to showcase the research and development activities in the area of genome sequencing and annotation, functional and computational genomics, and transcriptomics. Other areas of bioinformatics and biotechnology are also included. The Symposium brings together scientists in multiple disciplines, such as computer scientists, engineers, and researchers from biotechnology, bioinformatics, and the medical research community, to promote future interdisciplinary activity and research in these areas.

The symposium started in Colorado Springs in 2004. It was held previously at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs (2004, 2005 and 2007), at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah (2006), at the University of Texas at Arlington (2008), and at University of Nabraska-Lincoln (2009). After starting as a regional event, the symposium has become national, attracting research papers and poster contributions from all over the United States and several foreign countries.