Department of Animal Biosciences

Welcome to the department where we teach and research in areas ranging from molecular mechanisms and microbiology to whole animal structure and function! Our main subjects are anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, pharmacology, toxicology, genetics, breeding, immunology, bacteriology, virology, parasitology, epizootology, comparative medicine, food safety, bioinformatics and One Health. Our research covers production animals, companion animals, laboratory animals and wildlife.

students-in-lab

Education

Read about the programs at SLU that we are involved in

Research

Find out more about the many and varied research projects at HBIO

Do your thesis work at HBIO

We have a large number of projects available each year
View all our available projects

Interviews with our researchers

Interviews explaining in simple terms the exciting projects ongoing at HBIO
Interviews with our researchers

Publications database

List: All publications at HBIO
Examples of our research

Find out about our exciting research

Photo of a woman (Birgitta Staaf Larsson, SLU) together with dairy cows in a loose housing facility indoors.
Interview of the month

Animal welfare controls - but how? Progress towards better welfare for Swedish dairy cows

To ensure the welfare of dairy cows in Sweden there is legislation and controls on dairy farms. But are today's animal welfare controls really optimally designed to understand and monitor the physical and mental well-being of cows? These are questions asked by research - that have now been answered.

More interviews from HBIO

  • 2025-06-12

    Vital or deadly, but when? Bacterial knowledge benefits farmers, society and poultry

    Bacteria are present in all living bodies - human and animal alike. But why do certain bacteria sometimes cause harm and other times not? That’s what veterinarian and PhD student Homayoon Davam is investigating in a project focused on poultry and the well-known bacterium Escherichia coli.
  • 2025-06-17

    Myth or master? The weight-bearing capacity of the Icelandic horse

    For many years, the tiny Icelandic horse, rarely bigger than a pony, has been considered fully capable of carrying adult humans. But are they really? And what determines how much a horse can carry? This is now investigated by PhD student Denise Söderroos in a project about weight-bearing capacity
  • 2025-07-01

    More meat on the bone

    Many people want to drink cow's milk, but fewer think about what happens to the calves that are raised just to make the cows produce milk. A more sustainable approach is now being explored that may point the way to a society where we work smarter instead of harder and increase our self-sufficiency.