The Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) is an independent biomedical research organisation founded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim.

IMBA is located at the Vienna BioCenter (VBC) and shares facilities and scientific training programs with the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), the basic research center of Boehringer Ingelheim.

[1] The research at IMBA aims to understand the fundamental molecular biological processes underlying the 3D architecture of genomes, the functions of small RNAs, and the in vitro reconstitution from stem cells of whole organs and embryos.

Identification of CLIP cells (human interneuron progenitors) as the origin of Tuberous Sclerosis using patient-derived cerebral organoids[11] 2021.

In 2002, the geneticist Josef Penninger started as the Scientific Director of the IMBA and recruited Barry Dickson as the first group leader (now at Janelia Research Campus, USA).

In 2007 the Vienna Drosophila RNAi Center (VDRC) opened, in collaboration with the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology.

In order to maintain the highest standard of research, the IMBA has installed a process of review and feedback led by an external Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of internationally recognised scientists.

The Board meets yearly and, together with group leaders, discusses the quality, significance, and focus of research conducted.

[25] Core scientific facilities within the IMBA provide services to facilitate research making use of stem cells, flies/worms, informatics, optics, molecular biology, comparative medicine, transgenics, protein chemistry, or graphic designs.

IMBA and the IMP co-organize the yearly SY-Stem symposium focusing on the next generation of stem cell researchers.

[30] She was awarded the Ernst Schering Prize in 2017, highlighting Tanaka as "the leading expert in the field of regeneration biology".

Josef Penninger, former scientific director, has been elected as a full member of The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW).