Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIOUG)

The Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) is a biotechnology organization dedicated to the use of DNA barcoding for both the identification and discovery of species. Based at the University of Guelph, BIO coordinates the International Barcode of Life Project, the largest research program ever undertaken in biodiversity genomics. BIO plays a special role in leading Canadian contributions to this initiative, with emphasis on the development of efficient collection and preservation methods, high-throughput laboratory protocols, and the Barcode of Life Data (BOLD) Systems – an online workbench and database for the global barcoding community. BIO also houses an unique natural history collection composed of over 1.5 million digitized voucher specimens, most of which are associated with a DNA barcode record and specimen image.