Overview

The National Institute of Biology (NIB) was founded in 1961. It is the third largest public research institute in the field of natural and life sciences in Slovenia and tightly collaborates with universities (more than 85 PhD students and over 30 postdocs in last ten years).

NIB is located at two premises: its headquarters and Ljubljana (three research groups). In addition, its Marine Biology Station (MBS) Piran is situated in Piran. Its highly skilled and flexible scientific staff has advanced and up-to-date research instrumentation and facilities at their disposal.

ASSEMBLE Plus TA services are offered via two access providers: NIB's  Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology, and MBS which is described here. NiB itself is also the Slovenian partner in the consortium. MBS focuses on anthropogenic pressures on coastal sea, marine biodiversity and ecology, comparative genomics, hydrography and modelling of coastal ecosystems.

Ecosystem access

• Coastal research vessels    
  • Sagita 12 m and boat 6 m
• Scuba diving facilities
  • Equipment and assistance, air-compressor, air-bank, filling station for air and nitrox, underwater comunication

Biological resources

• Biobanks    
  • Scyphozoa
• Culture collections
  • Bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton, soft bottom and hard bottom fouling community, Opistobranchia, fish, macroalgae from local habitats

Experimental facilities

• Dry labs    
  • Multi purpose laboratories with:
    • filtration apparatus for sea water
    • basic research equipment for general microbiology and molecular manipulations
• Wet labs
  • General laboratory with:
    • flowing sea water
    • aquaria (100L, 80L custom made)
    • suitable for manipulation with animals and short term rearing 

Suporting facilities

• Library services   
• In-house lodging
  • 13 rooms with 24 beds, kitchen