The Estonian Biocentre (EBC) was established in 1986 by the decree of the government as a joint venture between Tartu University Tartu University and the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics to promote research and technological development (RTD) of gene and cell technologies in Estonia. The Estonian Biocentre functions as an independent public research institute reporting to the Ministry of Education. In research and graduate student training it is closely collaborating with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology of the University of Tartu.

The main research direction of the EBC lies in the field of molecular medicine and is linked to biotechnology. Several projects are carried out within the European Commission framework joint research projects scheme, classified as "precompetitive biotechnological research" although, of course, in the present-day biomedical research there is no real borderline between the basic research and seeking for the applications of its results. The EBC is governed by a 9-member Scientific Council comprising researchers from the EBC and outside and is advised by an international Advisory Board, currently consisting of 5 members from different countries.

In the year 2000 the EBC was placed 3rd to 5th in the competition among 184 research labs under the EC RTD Framework Programme 5 and received a nomination as a Centre of Excellence in research together with additional financing. The latter allowed us to prolong our ongoing pro-active repatriation scheme for Estonian biomedical researchers working in the USA and elsewhere as well as to host a number of young researchers and graduate students from different European countries. In particular this scheme was used to facilitate the creation of research and teaching capacity in bioinformatics, enlarge a scope in vector development and in genomics.