Historical Overview

Historia INBIOTEC

The INBIOTEC (Institute for Research in Biodiversity and Biotechnology) Executing Unit was established by Board Resolution No. 1911 on June 26, 2012, to carry out research and development projects addressing issues related to the agricultural, environmental, and bioenergy sectors, with a focus on studies of native biodiversity. The creation of INBIOTEC stemmed from a proposal put forward by Drs. Horacio G. Pontis and Graciela L. Salerno, as a continuation of the work of the Center for Biodiversity and Biotechnology Studies of Mar del Plata (CEBB-MdP) of the Foundation for Applied Biological Research (FIBA), a group affiliated with the Institute for Research in Agricultural and Environmental Biosciences (INBA, formerly IByF, FAUBA, CONICET). CEBB-MdP was composed of researchers, fellows, and technicians from CONICET who worked at the Biological Research Center (CIB) headquarters of FIBA in Mar del Plata, and at the Functional Biology and Biotechnology Laboratory (BIOLAB-Azul) at the Faculty of Agronomy of the National University of the Center of Buenos Aires Province (UNICEN).

In the formation of INBIOTEC, additional researchers from the Agropecuaria Experimental Station of INTA-Balcarce (EEA-INTA-Balcarce) and the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the National University of Mar del Plata (FCEyN-UNMdP) were incorporated. The "Bonaerense Southeastern Soil Entomology Group" (GENEBSO) from the Department of Biology at FCEyN was added. BIOLAB-Azul (led by Dr. W. John Rogers) and GENEBSO (led by Dr. Armando Cicchino) joined INBIOTEC as Linked Groups by Board Resolutions No. 2301/2013 and 3061/2013, respectively. Since its creation, INBIOTEC has been directed by Dr. Graciela L. Salerno, initially on an interim basis and then as Regular Director, by Board Resolution No. 4748 of December 21, 2012, a position she held until December 2017.

In December 2015, following the Strategic Plan 2012-2017 proposed by Dr. Salerno in the competition for the INBIOTEC Directorship, the "Research Group in Analytical Chemistry and Molecular Modeling" (QUIAMM) from the Department of Chemistry at FCEyN-UNMdP was incorporated (Board Resolution 4327/2015 of December 9, 2015).