[1] HZI is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, the largest non-university scientific organisation in Germany.

The HZI was founded on 18 July 2006 by renaming the Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung mbh (GBF, German Research Centre for Biotechnology).

[4] That year, the forerunner of the HZI, the Institute of Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics (IMB), was founded by chemist Hans Herloff Inhoffen (1906-1992), with support from other scientists, including the Nobel Laureate Manfred Eigen.

[5][6] In 1968, the IMB was transformed into the Gesellschaft für Molekularbiologische Forschung mbH (GMBF, Society for Research in Molecular Biology) with support by the Volkswagen Foundation.

[8] The focus of the HZI's research is on the investigation of pathogens that are medically relevant or that can be utilised as models for studying infection mechanisms.