Home > Hot Biology Websites

"Hot" Biology Websites

Please send any comments or suggestions for sites to include here to:
walvoord@ou.edu

This page was last updated on November 14, 2008

General Biology Education Sites

• Access Excellence
  Biotechnology educational programs.
• ActionBioScience.org
  Promotes bioscience literacy by providing articles on issues related to environment, biodiversity, genomics, biotechnology, evolution, new frontiers, and bioscience education; includes lessons for classroom use.
• American 3B Scientific
  Biological models -- including human, zoological, botanical and anthropological -- for teachers and students.
• Animal Behaviour Society (education section)
  Links to laboratory exercises, teaching and learning resources, images, etc.
• The Animal Diversity Web
  A taxonomically-arranged site of animal diversity from the University of Michigan.
• Bean Beetles
  This site provides information to faculty and staff on using bean beetles (seed beetles), Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), in undergraduate laboratory courses.
• Beyond Bio101
  The transformation of undergraduate biology education from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
• BioEd
  Biological sciences education resources.
• BioEDUCATE
  The American Society for Cell Biology Education Resources including seminars, videos, images, concept questions, and more.
• Bioinformatics Web
  "A comprehensive educational resource on bioinformatics."
• BioInteractive
  Virtual labs, animations, virtual museum, web video, and "click and learn" mini lessons from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
• Biolab
  Home page for Biolab: the discussion group for college biology laboratory teaching.
• Bioliteracy.net
  Generates, tests, and distributes the tools required to determine whether students are learning what teachers think they are teaching
• Biology Hypertextbook
  An online general biology textbook.
• The Biology Lab Clearinghouse
  A repository of free hands-on laboratory instruction. New material is welcomed.
• Biology Online.org
  A database of information, including tutorials, dictionary, links to biology sites, a biology forum.
• The Biology Place
  Resources for general biology instructors.
• The Biology Project
  From the University of Arizona. This site has tutorials and activities in may areas of Biology including Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Genetics, Molecular Biology, and Toxicology.
• BioMedia Associates: Learning Programs for Biology
  The Web site of this commercial venture contains dramatic photographs and animations, and offers a collection of downloadable teaching resources, and an online catalog of BioMedia's instructional videos and CD-ROMs.
• BioMedNet
  The World Wide Web Club for the Biological and Medical Community.
• Biosci
  Access to Biosci usenet groups, archives, and more!
• BiosciEdNet (BEN)
  The BEN portal provides access to resources from BEN partner organizations; "resources cover 46 biological sciences topics and include 25 different types of resources ranging from journal articles to simulations."
• BioTech
  An interactive educational resource and biotechnology reference tool.
• Connecting Concepts: Interactive Lessons in Biology
  A series of interactive web-based lessons designed to give introductory undergraduate biology students opportunities to connect biology concepts.
• Cells Alive!
  Information and images about cells from all walks of life.
• Cell and Molecular Biology Online
  General resources for the biology community with an emphasis on information for cell and molecular biologists.
• Centre for Bioscience of the UK's Higher Education Academy
  Supports and facilitates the sharing of good teaching practice and learning and teaching resources across the
  biosciences, amongst university level staff around the UK.
• Darwin 2000
  Interactive Web Site for Student Research into the Evolution of Genes and Proteins. From Rick Hershberger's Workshop at ABLE 21.
• Developmental Biology, Society for
  Links to developmental biology courses and resources.
• The Dictionary of Cell Biology
  An electronic version of Academic Press' 2nd edition of The Dictionary of Cell Biology.
• G-Biosciences
  G-Biosciences has experiments to supplement biotechnology courses for a wide range of ages, including hands-on experiments, background information, and simulated real life scenarios.
• Genetic Science Learning Center
  A large site with information, tutorials, and some great activities from the University of Utah.
• Human Biology Guide
  Study notes, using keywords and bullet points, makes it easy for students to review what they have learned in their lessons.
• Invertebrate Biodiversity (of Iowa)
  Iimage gallery of invertebrates of Iowa.
• Laboratory Exercises in Evolution (University of Virginia)
  Many links to lab exercises in evolution, plus information about the evolution lab course developed at UofV.
• MicrobeLibrary
  Contains images (still, animations, videos) of microbes, curriculum materials for the classroom and lab, educational reviews of books, websites, software and videos, an education newsletter and an annual journal.
• NISE/CL1 Website
  Collaborative learning and learning assessment resources from the National Institute for Science Education.
• Medline
  Online searching of the Medline journal article database.
• On-line Mendelian Inheritance in Man
  Access to this extensive database of human inheritance.
• NIGMS Online Puzzles/Games/Quizzes
  The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has developed and produced fun and interactive crossword puzzles, quizzes, and booklets on different fields of basic biomedical research. These are free for your use.
• Paleozoic Microfossils and Macrofossils
  Image gallery of Paleozoic (Devonian) microfossil and macrofossils, with emphasis on invertebrates.
• The-Science-Lab.com
  Directory of biology-related websites.
• Tom Volk's Fungi Site
  A very extensive site with much information about fungi.
• The Tree of Life
  The Tree of Life is a collection of World Wide Web pages which combined present information about the world's organisms.
• Vadlo
  Vadlo is brought to you by two biology scientists who wish to make it easier to locate biology research related information on the web - use our search engine within five categories: Protocols, Online Tools, Seminars, Databases, and Software.
• Virtual Cell
  An on-line tour of a plant cell. Zoom in, search for organelles, and view EM images.
• Virtual Courses
  Virtual courses available through the Internet.
• The Visible Human Project
  The National Library of Medicine's page on this project. Links are provided to several sites which allow you to navitage through the visible humans.
• Webcutter
  An on-line tool for restriction mapping nucleotide sequences. You can provide the sequence or Web Cutter will find one for you.

Comprehensive Links Pages

• BioChemNet
  A directory of biology and chemistry education resources.
• Biology Information Services
  A registry of biological Web sites and gopher servers.
• Biology Virtual Library
  Connections to Web sites covering all aspects of biology.
• Bioscience
  This site has a journal, a virtual library, and lots of other goodies helpful to both teachers and researchers.
• CSU BioWeb
  Extensive topical list of Internet biological sciences resources.
• InfoMINE
  A very extensive site for accessing a tremendous number of web sites and electronic journals in many academic areas.
• MicrobeLibrary
  Visual resources, curriculum resources, articles, reviews of educational materials, all searchable through a single portal.
• Microbes.info
  "Information portal designed to bring useful and interesting microbiology informational resources to all; a starting point for finding information concerning Microbiology."
• Scott's Botanical Links
  A huge site, listed as botanical links, but with a whole lot more.

Biological Animations

Many of the sites in this list require that specific plug-ins be installed before the animations can be viewed. Most sites have a link from which you can obtain the necessary plug-in.

• Biology in Action
  Over two dozen interactive and computational animations of movement in biology (invertebrate locomotion, circulation, etc.).
• Biology Multimedia Demonstration Files
  This site has six animated tutorials describing mitochondrial function, chloroplasts, meiosis, replication, and other topics.
• BioInteractive
  An excellent collection of biology-oriented animations from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
• DNA Learning Center
  This site from Cold Spring Harbor Labs has animated tutorials of PCR, DNA Fingerprinting, and so on.
• Interactive Animations for Immunology
  Animations of antibody diversity and MHC-peptide binding.
• MicrobeLibrary
  Over 35 animations of various processes within the Visual Resources collection.
• Molecular Models for Biochemistry
  An extensive site containing tutorials on glycolysis, the TCA cycle and a variety of biological molecules.
• Science Odessey: DNA Workshop
  This site has simple, interactive animations of DNA Replication and Protein Synthesis.

Biology Lab Manuals

• Arabidopsis Project lab manual.
• Cell Biology
  A cell biology laboratory manual composed of an assortment of techniques.
• Customized Laboratory Manuals
  Create your own custom laboratory manuals, from Wadsworth Publishing.
• Experimental Protocols
  Comprehensive list of molecular biological protocols/techniques available through the Internet.
• GENE
  Genetics Education Network.
• HHMI Virtual Lab
  A virtual neurophysiology lab from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
• Research Link 2000
  Development of research-based labs for the undergraduate curriculum; sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Suppliers of Biological Materials

• ADInstruments
  Data acquisition and analysis solutions for community college and higher education institutions.
• Anderson Unicom Group
  An on-line product search and order placement service for the life sciences.
• At Home Science
  Produces self-contained hands-on lab kits with laboratory manual and necessary equipment and supplies for college and high school distance learning courses in biology, chemistry and physics.
• ATCC
  An on-line index of organisms available from the AmericanType Culture Collection.
• Berkshire Biologicals
  Suppliers of living biological materials.
• BioSci Register
  Manual compilation of biotech suppliers enabling buyers to easily source manufacturers of biotechnology equipment for cell biology, cell culture, genomics, proteomics and more. Site includes new projects, free magazines, jobs, news and events.
• Bioscience Excellence
  Hands-on experiments, background information, and simulated real life scenarios for biotechnology teaching.
• BioSupplyNet
  An online directory for biomedical products and services.
• Carolina Biological
  Carolina's site now has on-line ordering and browsing of their catalogs.
• E. coli
  Index of E. coli strains available from the E. coli Genetic Stock Center at Yale.
• Educational Innovations
  Supplier of educational science supplies for kindergarten through college.
• Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory
  A non profit supplier of live marine animals to colleges and universities also a regional marine enviornmental education center for north Florida.
• Science Stuff
  Online store selling science supplies to teachers and parents.
• SciQuest
  Your source for scientific vendors, includes search and quote capabilities.
• SKS Science Products
  Products include glass and plastic lab equipment, and we carry a variety of other laboratory supplies and equipment.
• WARD'S Natural Science
  A leading provider for all materials needed to teach biology for middle school through university level.
• Yeast
  Resources for yeast researchers.

Scientific Organizations

• AAAS
  American Association for the Advancement of Science
• ACUBE
  Association of College and University Biology Educators
• AIBS
  American Institute of Biological Sciences
• ASM
  American Society for Microbiology
• ASC
  American Society for Cell Biology
• ASP
  American Society of Parasitologists
• CELS
  Coalition for Education in the Life Sciences
• CUR
  The Council on Undergraduate Research
• ESA
  Ecological Society of America (educational resources)
• HAPS
  The Human Anatomy and Physiology Society
• HHMI
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute (also see the HHMI Holiday Lectures on Science Program)
• NABT
  National Association of Biology Teachers

Online Journals

• American Scientist
  American Scientist, a journal from the Sigma Xi Research organization.
• Bioscience Education E-journal
  Online peer-reviewed journal.
• Cell Biology Education
  Education journal of the American Society for Cell Biology.
• HMS Beagle
  Official scientific webzine for BioMedNet, carrying daily news stories from top journals around the world.
• JAMA
  Journal of the American Medical Association.
• inScight
  On-line information service devoted specifically to late-breaking science news.
• Microbiology Education
  Online journal of the American Society for Microbiology
• New Scientist
  On-line version of this weekly news magazine.
• Science
  Science magazine online with additional features beyond the printed version.
• Science News
  Science News: the weekly newsmagazine of science.
• Scientific American
  Access to some of the current edition and most of the previous editions.
• The Scientist
  The newspaper for the life sciences professional.

Biology Course Web Pages

If you would like to have your course page listed, please e-mail me walvoord@ou.edu with the URL.

• Bucknell University: BI317 Teaching of the Biological Sciences
• Carlow College: Foundations of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Genetics, Teaching Elementary Life Science
• Colorado Community Colleges Online: Colorado Community College OnLine Science Division
• Cornell University: BioG 101-104
• Davidson College: Molecular Biology
• Florida State University: General Biology Lab for Non-Majors
• Ohio University: Bios 170 and 171 Introductory Biology Labs
• Old Dominion University: Animal Behavior, Biology Seminar, Evolution, Principles of Ecology, Vertebrate Zoology
• University of Colorado, Boulder: Biofundamentals (uses interactive on-line notes, in-class discussion, and web-based labs to teach the basics of molecular biology)
• University of Delaware: Introductory Biology
• University of Minnesota: General Biology Program
• University of Toronto: BIO150: Organisms in their Environment, BIO250: Introduction to Molecular Cell Biology, JLM349: Eukaryotic Molecular Biology
• University of Virginia: Human Biology
• University of Winconsin-La Crosse: Zoolab

Digital Images

• Biodidac
• Botanical Society of America image collection
• Centre for Bioscience Imabe Bank
  Contains over 4,000 freely-available bioscience images, copyright-cleared for educational use.
• MicrobeLibrary
• University of Wisconsin image collection
• Hyperlinked Human Histology (for Immunology Courses)