The Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was founded in 2001 by a merger of three former institutes of CAS, the Institute of Genetics (founded in 1959), the Institute of Developmental Biology (founded in 1980) and the Shijiazhuang Institute of Agricultural Modernization (founded in 1978). The mission of the institute is to address fundamental questions in genetics and developmental biology and to develop new technologies for the uses in health care and agriculture sciences as well as to meet the nation's strategic needs in science and technology.

There are five highly interactive centers in the institute: Plant Gene Research, Molecular Agro-biology, Developmental Biology, Molecular Systems Biology and Agro-Resources Research. The institute has four key labs: the State Key Lab of Plant Genomics, the State Key Lab of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, the Key Lab of Molecular and Developmental Biology of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Hebei Key Lab of Water-Saving Agriculture. In addition, the National Plant Gene Research Center (Beijing) is affiliated with the institute.

IGDB has 58 innovation studying groups. Among 532 employees, 342 persons are directly involved in research activities. The faculty includes 2 Fellows of CAS and fifty-nine Principal Investigators. Among them, 36 faculty members are the recipients of the CAS Young Talented Award, the highest honor in CAS for young starters, and 24 of them have also received the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Award for young investigators, the highest honor for young scientists in the nation. Three research teams in the institute have received the Fund for Creative Research Groups from the NSFC, while other two teams have been supported by the CAS International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams. It offers Ph. D and master degrees for post-graduates who major in Genetics, Developmental Biology, Cell Biology, Ecology and Biological Informatics. There is also a post-doctoral research station. There are a total of 578 graduate students, and among them 390 students are doing their PhD.

History of the Institute of Genetics

The precursor of the Institute of Genetics CAS was “the Laboratory of Genetics and Plant Breeding of CAS” which was set up in July, 1951. Professor Tianyu Le was the director of the laboratory. The Institute of Genetics CAS was founded in September, 1959. There were five laboratories in the institute, focusing on studies of genetics in plants, animals, microbial organisms and human beings. It had a staff of 41 researchers and 60 technicians at that time. The successive directors of this institute included Deming Zu, Han Hu, Zhensheng Li, Shouyi Chen, and Jiayang Li.

History of the Institute of Developmental Biology

The Institute of Developmental Biology was founded in March, 1980. Dizhou Tong, a famous experimental embryologist and educator, contributed a lot for the establishment of this institute. This institute was set up as a modern research institution which had fewer but better researchers, advanced equipments and had the ability to communicate with scientists in the world. The studies of the institute were focused on individual development in plants and animals at cellular and molecular level. The successive directors included Xiaohui Zhuang, Shaoyi Yan and Fangzhen Sun.

History of the Shijiazhuang Institute of Agricultural Modernization

During the late 70’s, when Chinese Academy of Sciences was the first to carry out comprehensive survey of agricultural resources and distribution of agricultural regions in a county scale, Luaneheng County was selected as an experimental site for the experiment of agricultural modernization. Luancheng Institute of Agricultural Modernization then was set up on June, 1978 and renamed “Shijiazhuang Institute of Agricultural Modernization” in 1979. It played vital roles in the improvement of agriculture production in the North China Plain. It stressed on the following research areas: agricultural resources, agricultural ecology, agricultural mechanization, agricultural technology and agricultural economy. The successive directors included Jinghui Guo, Zhendong Cao and Changming Liu.