The gestation of the initially named Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas (IIB) started around the beginning of the 70's of the last century, with the transfer from the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB) of the CSIC to the new Faculty of Medicine of the UAM, of two particularly relevant personalities linked to it throughout its history: Alberto Sols in 1968 and Gabriella Morreale in 1975. Alberto Sols, Research Professor of the CSIC at the CIB, was a pioneer in the development of Experimental Biochemistry in Spain with an international projection and he was in charge of founding the Department of Biochemistry of the newly created faculty, to which the Institute of Enzymology of the CSIC, which he directed, was transferred. Gabriella Morreale, also CSIC Research Professor at the CIB, who later moved to the new Faculty of Medicine, was a key figure in the creation of the IIB in 1984 through the merger of the Experimental Endocrinology group directed by her and the Institute of Enzymology directed by Alberto Sols. The IIB, as the CSIC center, was physically located on premises within the UAM Faculty of Medicine, which it shared with the University staff.
To regulate the relationships between the two institutions, in 1988 a CSIC-UAM agreement was signed that covered, under equal conditions, the activity of the CSIC personnel and of the professors of the Department of Biochemistry who, at that time, came mostly from the CSIC, from the group of Alberto Sols. In 1991, a new building was inaugurated for the IIB, built within premises of the campus of the Faculty of Medicine provided by the UAM, to which most of the CSIC staff and part of the professors of the Department of Biochemistry moved.
The aforementioned agreement lost its validity as a result of the approval, in 1993, of a new framework agreement between CSIC and UAM. For this reason, negotiations were initiated for a project to set up a Joint Center that would include personnel from both institutions. Finally, in September 1998, the CSIC and the UAM signed a collaboration agreement creating the current Sols-Morreale Institute for Biomedical Research as a joint CSIC-UAM center. From 2009 the acronym of the institute was established as IIBM to refer to its location in Madrid.
Currently, the IIBM includes two sites situated in different locations. On the one hand, the Department of Biochemistry located in the building of the Faculty of Medicine of the UAM, together with other departments, and on the other hand, an independent building of the CSIC built in the campus of the Faculty of Medicine. The laboratories of both buildings are indistinctly occupied by personnel from both institutions.
With the signing of the new CSIC-UAM collaboration agreement in July 2023, and following the death of Gabriella Morreale in 2017, the name of the centre was changed to Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale. The IIBM is currently composed of two sites located in different locations. On the one hand, the Department of Biochemistry located in the building of the UAM Faculty of Medicine, together with other departments of the same, and on the other, an independent building of the CSIC built on a plot of land on the campus of the UAM Faculty of Medicine that has been ceded for use. The laboratories in both buildings are occupied indistinctly by staff from the two institutions. The research carried out at the IIBM focuses on the study of the molecular basis of human pathology with a translational approach, integrating basic and clinical aspects in order to advance in the discovery of diagnostic and therapeutic measures for the benefit of society. The main areas of research include cancer, metabolic, cardiovascular and immune diseases, diseases associated with ageing and rare diseases.