The State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology (formerly the State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Bioengineering) was established in 1988. It consists of three divisions: the Membrane Biochemistry and Membrane Molecular Biology Division of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Membrane Biophysics and Membrane Bioengineering Division of Tsinghua University, and the Membrane Ion Channel and Receptor Molecular Division of Peking University. The laboratory passed the national acceptance inspection in 1990 and was officially opened to home and abroad. In 1996, 2001 and 2006, it passed the inspection and acceptance of the State Key Laboratory with "good" results. In 2011 and 2016, the laboratory achieved excellent results in the five-year national key laboratory evaluation in the field of life sciences. The laboratory is guided by the eight-character policy of "openness, mobility, union, and competition", with the focus on improving the quality of researchers, producing results and talents, and establishing an international-level membrane biology research base.

The research direction of the laboratory focuses on the following four aspects: membrane lipid/membrane protein interaction and membrane protein structure and function research, cell transmembrane signal transduction and ion channel characteristics research, biomembrane energy conversion research and membrane bioengineering. On the basis of the interdisciplinary integration of biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, physiology and biophysics, conduct multidisciplinary cooperation, focusing on the molecular and cellular level to clarify the relationship between the structure and function of biofilms, and biofilms Its role in material exchange, energy conversion and signal transduction. At present, certain characteristics and advantages have been formed in the research fields of membrane protein structure, calcium signal, mitochondrial free radicals and transmembrane signal transduction.