The gestation of the initially named Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas (IIB) started around the beginning of the 70's of the last century, with the transfer from the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB) of the CSIC to the new Faculty of Medicine of the UAM, of two particularly relevant personalities linked to it throughout its history: Alberto Sols in 1968 and Gabriella Morreale in 1975.

The name of Alberto Sols associated with the name of the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas honours the memory of a man who is unanimously recognised as the most important driving force behind the birth and development of modern biochemistry in Spain.