Faculty of Biology

Overview

Biology represents one of the most captivating, followed, and discussed branches of science nowadays, as well as a field of the future. “Green” energies, environmental and biodiversity protection, bio-indicators and bio-markers, pollution and the remediation of its effects in the context of sustainable development, “bio” products and nanomaterials, understanding life down to the molecular level, biochemistry, genetics, and genetic engineering are subjects we hear about almost daily—all encompassed under the generous umbrella of studies at the Faculty of Biology.

The faculty was established in 1864, along with the reorganization of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, as a section of the Faculty of Physical, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences.

Benefiting from the advantage of a strong tradition, which has over time shaped true schools of the field, the faculty honors this heritage while diversifying its concerns in both teaching and scientific research. Fundamental research in the fields of plant and animal taxonomy and anatomy, genetics, plant and animal physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, and molecular biology is harmoniously intertwined with applied research in the fields of bio- and nanotechnologies, environmental protection, integrated biological pest and parasite control, phytoremediation, etc. Modern laboratories for environmental quality monitoring and diagnosis, confocal and electron microscopy, molecular biology and biological active molecule testing, microbiology, bioarchaeology, and ecotoxicology operate within the faculty. The faculty’s study and research base also includes a consistent herbarium, as well as valuable collections of invertebrate and vertebrate animals.

As a true “green faculty,” the Faculty of Biology invites its students and researchers to learn from and in the middle of nature, at practical training and research bases outside Iași: the “Ioan Borcea” Marine Biological Station in Agigea, on the shore of the Black Sea, where field applications and research are conducted in the Danube Delta and in natural reserves in Dobruja; the “Petre Jitariu” Biological Station in Neamț, on the shore of Lake Izvorul Muntelui – Bicaz, which includes a modern water quality assessment laboratory using bio-indicators and from where research expeditions can be organized in the Ceahlău National Park, the Bicaz Gorges – Red Lake natural reserves, the Șugău Gorges, and the Vânători-Neamț Natural Park; the Research Station for Aquaculture and Aquatic Ecology in Iași, where interdisciplinary research is carried out, focused primarily on aquaculture. In addition, students and teaching staff have access to the material and experimental base and collections of the “Anastasie Fătu” Botanical Garden in Iași.

Among foreign partners with whom collaborative relations and integration into European programs have been established are faculties with a tradition in university education from countries such as Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, etc.

The Biology Library is located in building B of the University, on the first floor, room B-459, 20A Carol I Blvd., 700505, Iași, E-mail: bib.bio@uaic.ro, Phone: +40 232 20 1473.