IBB has revolutionized the term "interdisciplinary research," and the Institute has become an incubator for research teams to tackle complex medical research problems using an interdisciplinary approach. It has grown to include more than 130 faculty members from a wide variety of disciplines, which has played a vital role in the success of the Institute and its culture.
From its eight "research neighborhoods" to the open atrium and even the building's artwork, IBB was built from the ground up to foster an environment where innovative research emerges from the joint activities of bioengineering and bioscience faculty from more than eight different departments.
IBB serves as the headquarters for the following centers:
- Fundamental and Applied Molecular Evolution (FAME)
- Center for Advanced Bioengineering for Soldier Survivability (CABSS)
- Center for Bio-Imaging Mass Spectrometry
- Center for Chemical Evolution
- Center for Drug Design Development and Delivery (CD4)
- Center for Innovative Cardiovasular Technologies (CICT)
- Center for Nanobiology of the Macromolecular Assembly Disorders (NanoMAD)
- Center for Pharmaceutical Development (CPD)
- Center for Ribosomal Evolution & Adaption (RiboEvo)
- Emergent Behavior of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS)
- Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues (GTEC)
- Stem Cell Engineering Center (SCEC)
- The Ovarian Cancer Institute
Specific diseases that are being impacted by the research conducted in IBB include heart disease, diabetes, cancer, infectious diseases, and neural injury, to name a few.In addition, IBB not only works with the member institutions of the Georgia Research Alliance (Emory University, Georgia State University, the Medical College of Georgia, Clark-Atlanta University, and the University of Georgia) but also interacts with other institutions, such as Morehouse School of Medicine.