Since 2016, iBiology Courses has empowered 20,000+ early career scientists with free online learning to bridge the gap between traditional research training and real-world success.
Our expert-led video courses teach skills for career planning, experimental design, mentee training, and science communication.
Hosted on Canvas, our library of in-depth content offers flexible, self-paced learning with practical and actionable insights for researchers in the life sciences.
Free Online Courses for Scientists
Build the skills they don’t teach in the lab — trusted by 20,000+ scientists.
Build Your Research Community
Course Overview You need mentors to succeed in your graduate training and beyond. Mentors can support you, give advice, introduce you to others, share essential information, and ask good questions to help you to clarify your thinking and progress along your scientific research journey in …
Share Your Research
Course Overview Giving a research talk (say, at a conference, to your department or in your research group meeting) is a really important part of a scientist’s career. But, putting together and delivering a talk can be a nerve-wracking struggle. Maybe you have little to …
Let’s Experiment
Course Overview Before you step into the lab to do an experiment, you have a long list of questions: How do I design an experiment that will give a clear answer to my question? What model system should I use? What are my controls? What’s …
Planning Your Scientific Journey
Course Overview Being successful as a scientist requires more than acquiring knowledge and developing experimental skills. It also requires: (1) asking a good scientific question, (2) establishing a clear plan of action, and (3) seeking advice along the way. These three topics are the focus …
Career Planning for Early Career Scientists
Course Overview A goal without a plan is just a dream. Luckily, career planning is a skill you can learn. This course helps scientists plan and prepare for their career journey. After taking this course, you will feel empowered to take ownership of your future …
Mentoring Up
Course Overview Mentoring Up: Strengthening and Expanding Mentor-Mentee Relationships is a FREE, 3-week course designed to help trainees like you with strategies and practical tips to develop and maintain effective mentoring relationships. This course centers on the concept of Mentoring Up, which encourages mentees to …
Strategies for Effective Public Engagement
Course Overview Public engagement is the practice of establishing intentional and meaningful interactions between scholars and different publics for the purpose of mutual learning or other social benefits. Although public engagement utilizes many of the same principles, skills, and formats as outreach or communication, one …
The Strategic Postdoc
Course Overview The process of completing your PhD and securing your next position can be stressful and the guidelines on how to do this are not very clear. The Strategic Postdoc is a FREE, 3-week course designed to help trainees like you create a plan …
Business Concepts for Life Scientists
Course Overview The purpose of the Business Concepts for Life Scientists course is to enhance PhD scientists’ understanding of foundational business concepts. This business coursework is unique because it is designed to prepare scientists for career transitions into both academic and non-academic settings. The course …
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What Students Are Saying
"Great course!! Seriously this has vastly better prepared me for a career in academia than any other single course I've taken. I wish all of these research essentials were more explicitly talked about in grad school instruction. I think it could save a lot of heartache and frustration."
"This prepared me to take a much more rigorous approach that levies all of my technical strengths but also takes into account my interests... I feel so much more capable of running my own lab and it was something I was really not sure I could do."
"Because of this course, I am 100% confident that my new project is a better project, I have a plan for how to complete the project, and I have the skills to bounce back and not despair when it doesn't go perfectly according to plan. "
"I loved this course so much. Thank you for the opportunity to learn from so many wise scientists in a fun, easy to use, yet challenging and stimulating way. "
"I wish I had this course as a beginning graduate student. I will definitely use all concepts in training my students in the future. "
"It has helped me greatly in my mentor-mentee relationships and in bolstering my confidence for handling long-term relationships in graduate school."
For Educators
Bring Our Courses into Your Classroom
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Once you're logged in, just click the green “Educator Resources” button on any course page to view and download our classroom-ready materials.
Our top courses to to help you thrive in the lab and beyond —
Learn how to develop and plan a research project.
Planning Your Scientific Journey focuses on three essential skills: how to craft a strong scientific question, how to build a clear and actionable research plan, and how to engage mentors to support your growth. Designed for life science students and researchers, it offers practical tools to help you move your project forward.
Learn how to design rigorous, reproducible experiments.
With expert guidance and real-world case studies, Let's Experiment teaches you how to ask the right research questions, select model systems, define variables and controls, minimize bias, validate reagents, and troubleshoot effectively. You’ll build a personalized experimental plan and walk away with a lab notebook template so organized—it might spark lab-wide envy!
Learn how to craft and deliver a compelling research talk.
Whether you're brand new to public speaking or looking to refine your style, Share Your Research walks you through every step of giving a scientific presentation—from defining your core message and outlining your talk to engaging your audience and navigating Q&As. You’ll gain the tools and confidence to communicate your science effectively—at conferences, in classrooms, and beyond.
Learn practical strategies to grow your support network.
Build Your Research Community helps you identify mentors, build strong mentoring relationships, and navigate your research training with confidence. Through concrete strategies and insights from diverse scientists, you'll learn how to develop your mentoring network and chart a successful path through graduate school and beyond.
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Our History & Impact
iBiology Courses began in 2016 with an Innovative Programs to Enhance Research Training (IPERT) grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to support early career scientists in building essential research, communication, and career planning skills.
Developed by the Science Communication Lab and esteemed academic partners, iBiology Courses launched with four free courses and expanded in 2020 with additional grants to produce five more courses, a podcast, and our custom, open-source learning platform: Kinesin LMS.
Since 2016, we have supported over 20,000 scientists around the world in their professional development. With the conclusion of the IPERT grants, our courses remain freely accessible, hosted on the free to use Canvas LMS from Instructure.
Still have questions? Check out our FAQ.
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FAQ
For example, if you are having trouble logging in:
- The Canvas LMS URL we use is: https://www.instructure.com/canvas/login, make sure you are trying to log into the correct Canvas site.
- If you need to reset your password, please view this Canvas help page: How do I reset my Canvas password?
- Double check, are you sure you made an iBiology Courses account after May 1, 2025? Because of funding issues, iBiology Courses switched course hosting platforms on May 1, 2025. All accounts prior to May 1, 2025 have been closed, and only the digital badges that were earned on the old platform are available (log in to Canvas Badges with the email you used on iBiology Courses to access any earned digital badges). Due to resource limitations, no data or accounts were transferred to the new platform. As of May 1, 2025 all learners on iBiology Courses will need to make new accounts.
If you are having other problems with the Canvas system, please look at their help pages: Canvas Basics Guide
- If your question or issue isn’t answered by the help pages, you can post your question on their Community forum. You can also use the Canvas “Contact Us” form to submit your issue directly. If you are logged into Canvas you can access help by clicking on the “Help” button at the bottom of the left navigation bar.
Enjoyed the courses? Don’t miss our award-winning films
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Connected by a Mission
iBiology, iBiology Courses, and the Wonder Collaborative are all part of the Science Communication Lab
Science on the Big Screen
Wonder Collaborative is our feature film unit, celebrated for producing award-winning documentaries like Human Nature and Picture a Scientist. Check out our newest film: Observer.
600+ Talks & Lectures
iBiology is how we got our start. Search our archives of 600+ comprehensive lectures and talks along with educator resources, flipped courses, and our popular microscopy series.
Free Online Courses
We offer a bevy of self-paced professional development courses for early career scientists and researchers. Learn more.
