Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica

Research Area

At the Institute of Molecular Biology, active research is being engaged at the molecular and cellular levels in diverse fields of biology. There are also 8 core facilities established to help promote research activities. Using yeast, C. elegans, Drosophila, zebra fish, mouse, and Arabidopsis as models, current research topics include chromosome biology, developmental biology, infection and immunobiology, Neuroscience, Plant Biology, RNA Biology, Structural Biology, and Systems Biology.

Chromosome Biology

Focuses on the maintenance of chromosomes in cell division and the control of gene expression.

Developmental Biology

Focuses on the importance of gene function on cell, organismic and neural development, and the mechanism of spine formation at the molecular level.

Infection and Immunobiology

Projects cover virus entry and host cell signaling, virus replication and transcriptional control, protein engineering, T lymphocyte biology, and interleukin 15 activity.

Projects cover interrogating neural development and degeneration by ES cells, neurodevelopmental disorders, Drosophila neural development and protein degradation control, mechanisms of motivation and memory, development of visual system, and prion biology.

Plant Biology

Arabidopsis and rice are used as model systems to study plant physiology, plant gene regulation and its agricultural applications.

RNA Biology

Focuses include mechanism of pre-mRNA splicing, RNA decay, regulation by noncoding RNA and RNA-associated diseases.

Structural Biology

Macromolecular characteristics are being analyzed to unravel their structural-functional relationships by X-ray crystallographic, biophysical and biochemical approaches.

Systems Biology

Research includes mechanisms of speciation and genetic buffering, interactions between nematodes and nematode-trapping fungi, cell growth and metabolic controls in the mammalian system, protein turnover regulation and systems biology.

Core Facilities

To maximize the usage, the Institute made a decision to share expensive and/or sophisticated equipments ever since its establishment. Accordingly, core facilities have been organized and supervised by specialists.