We perform multidisciplinary research at molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of animal biology to increase fundamental understanding of health and disease.

The Animal Sciences cluster fosters collaboration between researchers with expertise in molecular cell biology, immunology, physiology, behavioural biology, and evo-devo research. As detailed under the links on this page, Animal Sciences participates in all of the institute wide-research themes: Bioactive Molecules, Development & Disease, Biodiversity & Evolution, and Host-Microbe Interactions.

The mission of the Plant Sciences cluster is to contribute to the sustainable production of high-quality crops, flowers and high-value bio-based products, and to contribute to the maintenance and restoration of biodiversity in natural ecosystems. This is realised by generating fundamental knowledge of basic biological processes related to the development of plants and by unravelling their interactions with the environment.

The Plant Sciences cluster of the IBL hosts scientists from diverse fields of expertise. On the one hand, molecular geneticists explore plant-microbe interactions to develop tools for the directed modification of the plant genome. On the other hand, plant ecologists investigate how microbiomes affect plant health, growth and community composition with a specific focus on the role of secondary metabolites in plant-microbe and plant-insect interactions. In addition, a combination of genetics, molecular cell biology and biochemistry is used to understand plant developmental processes with a focus on developmental switches and how plants adapt to environmental signals and stresses.

In Microbial Sciences, we perform multidisciplinary research to understand the structure and function of microbes at all levels of biological organization, from small molecules and cellular structures at atomic resolution to multicellular communities.

We investigate how microbes sense and respond to their environment and interact with other organisms, and harness Nature's Biodiversity to discover novel bioactive molecules and enzymes, which find application in the clinical trajectory and in biotechnology.

The research group Science Communication and Society has been physically within the Institute of Biology (IBL) since 2012 and has become a formal part of the institute in 2018. The mission of this group is understanding how science communication works to improve the interaction between science and society.

Our research themes are:

• Bridging the gap between experts and the general public. One of the projects related to this topic is linking quantum technology to society. Moreover, multiple citizen science projects are performed and studied at our department, attempting to narrow this gap. In collaboration with the Hortus Botanicus, we study if participants will develop more attention for urban flora. We also conduct research on citizens collecting data about plastic pollution and animal rescue centers.
• Evaluating Science Communication. Science is portraited in the media in multiple ways. At our department, we use for instance content analyses to study science in the media, and we try to help people debunk misleading graphs in one of our research studies. Furthermore, we study how visitors experience the difference between real objects and replicas in science museums, and look at global perspectives on science communication. Lastly, in our project ‘Impact Lab’, we measure the impact of science communication and provide support and a toolbox for science communication organisers to measure their own impact.