As such, it constitutes the Department of Basic Biology in the School of Life Science of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI).

Graduate students enrolled in other universities and institutions are also eligible to conduct research there for fixed periods of time under the supervision of NIBB professors.

The institute acts as a gateway between the international scientific community and researchers in Japan through various conferences, seminars, and hands-on practical courses.

NIBB performs academic exchange programs with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS).

To The institute participates in this as a research and supply center for medaka (Oryzia latipes), a small, egg-laying freshwater teleost fish found in brooks and rice paddies, whose usefulness as a vertebrate model first developed in Japan, and whose full genome sequence became available in 2007.