Established under the jurisdication of the Ministry of Education, Sclence, Sports and Culture in 1949, the National Institute for Genetic Research started with an administrative department and three research departments (Departments of Morphological Genetics, Cytological Genetics and Physiological Genetics).
Nowadays, NIG performs Bioresources Center, DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) and DNA Sequencing Center, as a core institute to build the intellectual infrastructure that supports Life Sciences.
As a core institute of Genetics, NIG is acting for advanced research in the field of Life Sciences. This institute offers collaborative research opportunities to researchers throughout Japan and strives to promote international scientific exchanges by sponsoring international symposia and through the exchange of researchers.
Set up as an Inter-University Research Institute (IURI), NIG is part of the IURI Corporation Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS) together with three other institutes:
- National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR)
- National Institute of Informatics (NII)
- The Institute of Statistical Mathematics.
