National Institute of Biology (NIB) is the largest independent Public Research Institution for Life Sciences in Slovenia. The basic activity of the Institute is basic, developmental and applicative research in the fields of biotechnology, biophysics, biomedicine and system biology. The numerous activities taking place at NIB are related to the environment, agriculture, food and, more recently and increasingly so, to human health. The Institute consists of four research departments: Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, Department of Genetic Toxicology and Cancer Biology, Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology and Marine Biology Station. Departments are relatively independent as regards programmes, human resources and finance and have their own science and business strategies and basic objectives. NIB also has its own technology transfer office responsible for the management of intellectual property and business development. NIB works in close cooperation with affiliated higher education and research institutions in Slovenia and abroad. This synergy ensures that the knowledge produced at the Institute is widely accessible to the society through education and outreach activities and is beneficial to the economy by being transferred into practice. NIB is a project-oriented institution financed with grants from the Slovenian Research Agency and international grants including EU funding schemes. NIB is simultaneously involved in numerous international collaborations and, increasingly, in long-term contract research for the Centres of Excellence, pharmaceutical companies and a number of small and medium-sized enterprises. Since 2000, NIB holds the quality management standard ISO 9001:2000 and has acquired the Good Laboratory Practice certificate according to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard in 2003. NIB is also a holder of national etalon for the plant-derived amount of substance/food.