The International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IIMCB) is located at the Ochota Campus in Warsaw; the largest campus for biomedical sciences in the Central and Eastern Europe. The idea for foundation of IIMCB materialized in an international agreement signed in Paris in May 1995 by the Director General of UNESCO, Professor Federico Mayor, and by Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of State Comitee for Scientific Research, Professor Aleksander Łuczak. According to this agreement, in 1996 the President of Polish Academy of Sciences established the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology to organize the Institute.
A special Parliamentary bill formed the legal basis for functioning of the IIMCB in 1997, but in practice the IIMCB started its activity on January 1, 1999. The President of Polish Academy of Sciences, in agreement with the Director General of UNESCO nominated professor Angelo Azzi from Switzerland as the first director of the Institute and professors Jacek KuŸnicki and Michał Witt as his deputies. In 2002 Prof. Jacek KuŸnicki tookover a position of the institute's director with Prof. Michał Witt as a deputy director.
It is worth mentioning that the principles of organisation of IIMCB are distinct and differ from other research institutes in the country. The important body of the Institute is the International Advisory Board acting as Scientific Council. The leader of each group of the Institute is selected in an international competition. Initial employment is limited to 5-years contract. After first three years the progress of research is to be assessed by the International Advisory Board and the professor's contract may be either terminated or extended. Further evaluations are being performed every two years.
IIMCB is directly subordinate to the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences who supervises the organisation and activities of the Institute.The Institute is financed in part from the national budget and in part from other sources (Foundation for Polish Science, UNESCO, 5th and 6th Framework Programme of EU, Max Planck Society, Utrecht University, National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Wellcome Trust etc.). Most of the funds arrive as competitive grant awards received by the group leaders. Since 2003 IIMCB holds the status of the Centre of Excellence (within a 5th FP). More ...