Internet Biologists' most widely known project are online courses to facilitate and encourage Internet literacy for scientific disciplines like bioinformatics. Internet Biologists has its root in the organization and delivery of the first 4-week course, "Bioscience Resources on the Internet" (BRI) in 1996. This was the earliest collective effort to address the need and niche in filling gaps in local bioscience resource scarcity.  

Most of the participants and consultants continue their virtual union and make up the core organizational group of Internet Biologists today. "Bioscience Resources on the Internet" (BRI) was initiated and organised by Chin Hoon Lau, then a graduate student from Malaysia at the National University of Singapore. The first edition (15 December 1996- 20 January 1997) was organised for the Singapore Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SSBMB) for its members.

For the purpose of developing capability and structure for international delivery, two students based in the USA and members of the Virtual School of Natural Sciences BioComputing Division (VSNS-BCD) translation group from Italy, Mexico, USA and the United Kingdom were recruited as consulting participants, providing technical assistance to the course.  The virtual set up was adviced by Georg Fuellen, the coordinator for VSNS-BCD,   Dr Khoo Hoon Eng,   then president of SSBMB, and Dr. Hwa Lim, an eminent scientist who coined the word "bioinformatics". The assistance of VSNS-BCD in this course was in a way a pioneering showcase of the transfer of know-how and approach which was carried out entirely through the Internet. 

In order to make  our experiences and resources available to anyone interested in organizing such a course, we decided that we must remain together by way of a simple administrative structure. During the founding period, Lagenda Knowledge Systems, Malaysia, provided the IB Website development and maintenance, and supported the half-time coordination of IB by Chin Hoon Lau.  

Christian Frosch, in Germany, started a formal  Internet Biologists mailing list in April 1997 using the Globewide Network Academy server then based at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Beginning with the second BRI course, Dr. Valerio Aimale from Italy  helped to administer the course mailing list sponsored by the Italian Linux Society.   We continued to use BioMOO, administered by Gustavo Glusman,  in Israel, as a virtual meeting and lecture place. Thus a basic ICT infrastructure critical in connecting this virtual members was formed. 

The administrative capacity continued to build and new projects were developed, leading to the formation of today's Internet Biologists. The current administrative board members include Chin Hoon Lau, Robert Gore-Langton, Christian Frosch and Zev Leifer  with Pinar Kondu Akalin as the Chair person.