Summary of the laboratory's mission:

The primary mission of the International Laboratory of Molecular Biology (ILMB) is to conduct a coordinated research program that brings together experts working on the molecular biology of human and animal tropical disease agents. In addition to the study of these agents and their pathogenic mechanisms, the ILMB has specific goals of vaccine development and diagnostic kit design, to aid in tropical disease control.

The ILMB has been named as a Collaborative Laboratory of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and has therefore assumed additional responsibilities that are consonant with its major mission. Working within the guidelines of the FAO program to combat hunger in developing nations, the ILMB is broadly concerned with biotechnology programs that promote animal health and production, training native scientists and transferring biotechnology information and techniques to developing countries, and forming a network of laboratories dealing with specific biotechnology issues.

The ILMB focus on vaccine development is not limited to animal health. The search for a safe and effective vaccine for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (using simian immunodeficiency virus in macaques as a model) is a top priority, and comprises a growing component of our workload.