The Babraham Institute is a member of EU-LIFE, an alliance of leading life sciences research centres in Europe.

The hall was purchased by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in 1948 at the suggestion of Prof Ivan De Burgh Daly,[2] together with 182 hectares of farm and woodland to become the Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham.

The aim of the research conducted at The Babraham Institute is to study the molecular mechanisms that underlie normal cellular processes and functions, and to understand how these systems are affected by age.

The research laboratories of the Institute are structured around three strategic programmes: Research breakthroughs made at the Babraham Institute include the discovery of liposomes by Alec Bangham,[5] the role of Inositol trisphosphate in the release of calcium from intracellular stores by Michael Berridge,[6] the discovery that genomic imprinting was carried by DNA methylation by Wolf Reik.

Additional grant funding comes from other research councils, such as the MRC, the Wellcome Trust, the European Commission, charitable foundations and medical charities.