With around fifteen research units, laboratories and research groups, and currently employing around 160 staff members, biology is one of the largest institutes within the University of Neuchâtel, which highlights to the importance attached to it.

The biology taught at the University of Neuchâtel provides a balanced overview of all levels of living organisms, from molecules to ecosystems, organisms, populations and communities. Particular attention is paid to the interactions between living beings, and between them and their environment.

Our main research focuses on interactions at all levels: intracellular, tissue, between organisms of the same or different species (collaboration, parasitism, pathogenesis), or with the environment (soil, light, various stresses). The research carried out at the Institute of Biology covers a broad spectrum of biology, with the emphasis on a few areas that have traditionally been strong or that have been promoted more recently:

• Soil biology
• Microbiology
• Plant physiology and the molecular and cellular biology of plants
• Interactions between plants, plant pests and beneficial or pathogenic micro-organisms
• Chemical and functional ecology
• Animal behaviour
• Biodiversity