The CBMA Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology / Centro de Biologia Molecular e Ambiental is a Research and Development (R&D) Unit created in 2008, funded by the Portuguese Science & Technology Foundation and hosted at the School of Sciences of the University of Minho.

The mission of CBMA is to promote high quality Research and Advanced Education & Training in Biological Sciences, for the benefit of the societal issues of Biosustainability while serving the community via extension activities that support the development of Science and Technology at the regional, national and international levels.

CBMA drives cutting-edge research through a problem-oriented approach leading to breakthrough innovations, to new tools and to strategies, all of which have an impact in the Environmental, Biotechnology, Health, Agro-food and Industrial sectors.

By addressing the complexity of biological systems at distinct levels of organization, from molecules to biosphere, and benefiting from the expertise of a cross-disciplinary team, CBMA R&D activities converge towards Integrative Biology.

The study of living organisms and their interaction with the environment implies different scales of approach, from populations, communities, organisms, to a single cell and molecular events. The comprehensive understanding of biodiversity components and ecosystems relies on complementary expertise based on distinct tools and methodologies. Thus, Research Groups organization reflects their scientific expertise and approaches towards different perspectives on biodiversity:

Research Group SUSTAINING LIFE: Biodiversity and Functional Ecology.

Research Group BASICS OF LIFE: Cellular Responses to Environmental Stress.

Research Group INNOVATION FOR LIFE: Functional Genomics and Nanobiotechnology for Sustainable Living