The URBM is the result of the merger of three laboratories: two from the Biology Department (Structural and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Molecular Genetics Laboratory) and one from the Veterinary Medicine Department (Immunology and Microbiology Laboratory). It brings together 40 researchers and technicians who study micro-organisms (mainly bacteria) at all levels of integration, from molecular to cellular bacteriology, as well as their relationships with eukaryotic hosts.

Caulobacter crescentus, Capnocytophaga canimorsus and Brucella sp. are used as working models to study the functions, structure and interactions of proteins involved in processes associated with the cell cycle, regulation of gene expression, metabolism, and in the case of Brucella and Capnocytophaga canimorsus, in the modulation of the host's innate immune response.