History

1949	Jun. 1	Established under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports andCulture. Started with an administrative dept and three research depts.
	Aug. 10	Prof. Kan Oguma was elected the 1st Director.
1953	Jan. 1	Three research depts were reorganized as the Depts. of Morphological Genetics, Cytological Genetics and Physiological Genetics.
	Aug. 1	Dept. of Biochemical Genetics was added.
1954	Jul. 1	Dept. of Applied Genetics was added.
1955	Sep. 15	Dept. of Induced Mutation was added.
	Oct. 1	Prof. Hitoshi Kihara was elected the 2nd Director.
1960	Apr. 30	Dept. of Human Genetics was added.
1962	Apr. 1	Dept. of Microbial Genetics was added.
1964	Apr. 1	Dept. of Population Genetics was added.
1969	Apr. 1	Prof. Daigoro Moriwaki was elected the 3rd Director. Dept. of Molecular Biology was added.
1974	Apr. 1	Plant Genetic Stock Laboratory was estab-ished.
1975	Mar. 1	Dr. Yataro Tajima was elected the 4th Director.
	Oct. 1	Animal Section was added in the Genetic Stock Center.
1976	Oct. 1	Microbial Section was added in the Genetic Stock Center.
1983	Oct. 1	Dr. Ei Matsunaga was elected the 5th Director.
1984	Apr. 12	Reorganized as an inter-university research institute for joint use by universities. The DNA Research Center (DNA Structure and Recombinant DNA Laboratories) and the Experimental Farm were established. The Genetic Stock Research Center was expanded into five laboratories: the Genetic Resources Laboratory was added and the Animal Section was divided into the Mammalian and Invertebrate Laboratories.
1985	Apr. 1	The DNA Synthesis and DNA Data Analysis Laboratories were added in the DNA Research Center.
1987	Jan. 12	The DNA Data Bank of Japan began its operations.
1988	Apr. 8	The Radio-isotope Center was established.The Gene Library Laboratory was added in the DNA Research Center.
	1Oct. 1	The Graduate University for Advanced Studies was established. The Dept. of Genetics, School of Life Science of the University began accepting students.
1989	Oct. 1	Dr. Jun-ichi Tomizawa was elected the 6th Director.
1993	Apr. 1	The Mammalian Development Laboratory was added in the Genetic Stock Research Center.
1994	Jun. 24	The Gene Function Research Laboratory was added in the DNA Research Center.
1995	Apr. 1	The Center for Information Biology was established.
1996	May. 11	The DNA Research Center was reorganized as the Structural Biology Center consisting of 5 laboratories (Biological Macromolecules,Molecular Biomechanism, Multicellular Organization, Biomolecular Structure and Gene Network).
1997	Apr. 1	The Genetic Stock Research Center was reorganized as the Genetic Strains Research Center consisting of 5 laboratories (MammalianGenetics, Mammalian Development, Plant Genetics, Microbial Genetics and Invertebrate Genetics), and as the Center for Genetic Resource Information consisting of 2 laboratories (Genetic Informatics and Genetic Resources).
	Oct. 1	Dr. Yoshiki Hotta was elected the 7th Director.
1998	Apr. 9	The Division of Early Embryogenesis was added in the Dept. of Developmental Genetics. The Division of Brain Function was added in the Dept. of Integrated Genetics.
2001	Apr. 1	The Center for Information Biology was reorganized as the Center for Information Biology and DNA Data Bank of Japan. The new center consists of 5 laboratories. The Laboratory of Molecular Classification of the former center was renamed as the Laboratory for Research and Development of Biological Databases in the new center. The Laboratory for Gene-Expression Analysis was added in the new center.
2002	Apr. 1	Two laboratories, Mouse Genomics Resource Laboratory and Model Fish Genomics Resource Laboratory, were added to the Genetic Strains Research Center.
2003	Apr. 1	The Molecular Mechanisms was added to the molecular Genetics. The Laboratory for Frontier Research was added to the Genetic Strains Research Center. Two laboratories, Comparative Genomics Laboratory and Publicity and Intellectual Property Unit, were added to the Center for Genetic Resource Information.
2004	Apr. 1	Reorganized as Research Organization of Information and Systems, Inter-University Research Institute Corporation, together with three other national institutes.
	Dec. 1	Dr. Yuji Kohara was elected the 8th Director.
2005	Apr. 1	Intellectual Property Unit was added. Renamed as NIG INNOVATION (as of 2018 Apr.1)
2006	Apr. 1	The Center for Frontier Research was established. The Laboratory for Cell Lineage,Neural Morphogenesis and Cell Architecture was added in the new center.
2011	Oct. 1	Advanced Genomics Center was established.
2012	Apr. 1	Research centers were reorganized. Intellectual Infrastructure Centers (Genetic Resource Center and DDBJ Center) and Support Centers (IT Unit, Mouse Research Supporting Unit) were established.
	Dec. 1	Dr. Isao Katsura was elected the 9th Director.
2014	Apr. 1	Office for Research Development was added.
2015	Apr. 1	Unit for Experimental Animal Care was established. Office for Female Researcher Development was added. Renamed as Office for Diversity and Inclusion (as of 2024 Jul. 1)
2018	Dec. 1	Dr. Fumio Hanaoka was elected the 10th Director.
2019	Jan. 1	The existing 5 depts, 3 research centers (Genetic Strains Research Center, Structural Biology Center and Center for Information Biology), Experimental Farm and Radio-isotope Center were abolished. Four research departments (Dept. of Informatics, Dept. of Genomics and Evolutionary Biology, Dept. of Gene Function and Phenomics and Dept. of Chromosome Science) were established. The DDBJ Center, as one of the Intellectual Infrastructure Centers, was renamed as the Bioinformation and DDBJ Center. The Support Center was reorganized. (The Radioisotope Unit was added.)
2023	Feb. 1	Phenotype Research Center was established.
2024	Jul. 1	Research & Innovation Bridge Center was established, consisting of NIG INNOVATION and Office for Research Development. ABS Support Office and Public Relations Office were added in the new center.
	Dec. 1	Dr. Shigeru Kondo was elected the 11th Director.