The National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) was founded in 1977 to promote and stimulate studies in the field of biology. As a center of excellence (COE), NIBB promotes biological sciences by conducting first-rate research on its own as well as in cooperation with other universities and research organizations. Research at NIBB covers a wide variety of biological fields, such as cell biology, developmental biology, neurobiology, evolutionary biology, environmental biology, and theoretical biology, and is conducted to elucidate general and fundamental mechanisms underlying various biological phenomena.