Welcome to the Institute of Arctic Biology
Welcome to the Institute of Arctic Biology and our Web site. Please look around our site and get to know us, learn what we do, how we got here and what we are up to.
The Institute of Arctic Biology was founded in 1963 by the Board of Regents of the University of Alaska with Laurence Irving, a pioneer in the field of comparative physiology, as the founding director.
The Institute continues Irving’s pioneering spirit through our mission to advance basic and applied knowledge of high-latitude biological systems through the integration of research, student education and service to the nation and state of Alaska. The Institute supports faculty and post-doctoral research and graduate education in the life sciences of wildlife, physiology, genetics and evolutionary biology, ecology and ecosystems, biomedicine, and bioinformatics and computational biology. Lists of faculty member’s scholarly publications, graduate theses and IAB’s Biological Papers of the University of Alaska are available in the publications section of our Web site.
IAB provides and supports platforms for research in programs from ecology and ecosystems to molecular biology and genetics, including field stations, small- and large-animal facilities, and core laboratories for geographic information systems and DNA sequencing. The Institute’s Toolik Field Station is a world-renowned Arctic climate change research station located in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range. The Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station maintains colonies of muskoxen, reindeer and caribou available for nutritional, physiological and behavioral research. LARS is open to the public as an educational and outreach center between Memorial and Labor days.
Major research programs at IAB include the Center for Alaska Native Health Research, Alaska Basic Neuroscience Program, Center for Molecular and Genetic Studies of Hibernation, Alaska Geobotany Center, Resilience and Adaptation Program and the Bonanza Creek Long-Term Ecological Research program.
The Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, administered by IAB, began in 1950 and is part of a nationwide cooperative program to promote research and graduate student training in the ecology and management of fish, wildlife and their habitats.
IAB faculty deliver the entire curriculum for undergraduate majors in biology and wildlife biology, a component of chemistry and biochemistry majors, and provide UAF undergraduates with opportunities for hands-on research experiences in the field and laboratory. IAB faculty members hold joint appointments with the Department of Biology and Wildlife, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the Department of Psychology and the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. Our faculty mentor more than 150 graduate students including 75 doctoral candidates.
I also invite you to join us at our weekly Life Science Seminar Series to hear about current research and our annual Irving-Scholander Memorial Lecture and Jay Hammond Lecture in Wildlife Biology series where we invite outstanding life scientists to campus to give public lectures and meet with students, faculty and staff. Read breaking news about IAB scientists and students and their research at our news pages.
The Institute of Arctic Biology has a proud and distinguished research history. I encourage you to look around our Web site and discover for yourself the tremendous contributions to science and Alaska made by our faculty members, students and staff.
Sincerely,
Brian M. Barnes
Director
Institute of Arctic Biology
bmbarnes@alaska.edu
Brian M. Barnes, director Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, stands in the lobby of the Irving I building 30 October 2008 preparing to lead a facility tour for University of Alaska Board of Regents and Alaska legislators. Credit: Marie Gilbert/IAB information officer
Institute of Arctic Biology Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station facilities and muskoxen in 2003. Buildings of the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus can be seen in the background on the right. Credit: Courtesy of IAB.
Official signing of the cooperative agreement establishing the Alaska Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit on January 15, 1949 in Juneau, Alaska. From the left standing are Albert M. Day, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; C.R. (Pink) Gutermuth and Dr. Ira N. Gabrielson, vice president and president respectively of the Wildlife Management Institute, and seated, Clarence J. Rhode, executive officer of the Alaska Game Commission. Credit: E.P. Haddon/U.S.FWS