Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis

What Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis does

QUBES (Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis) is a non-profit educational initiative, now operating under BioQUEST, that provides a social cyberinfrastructure platform for quantitative biology education. Its core offering is the QUBES Hub, a community-driven website built on the open-source HubZero platform where undergraduate biology faculty, students, professional societies, and STEM education researchers can find, share, adapt, and publish open educational resources, participate in online communities, and collaborate on teaching materials. The platform hosts 100+ open educational resources and a suite of 11 browser-accessible modeling and statistical software packages (R-Studio IDE, Jupyter Notebooks, Jupyter Lab, NetLogo, Copasi, QtOctave, ImageJ, Mesquite, PPLANE, XPPAUT, and Avida-ED), eliminating the need for students to install software locally. Its signature program is the Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN), a 3-4 month structured peer-mentoring model that pairs geographically distributed faculty with experienced quantitative mentors to adapt, implement, and assess curricular changes.

QUBES serves four primary segments: undergraduate biology faculty (the core user), undergraduate biology students (who benefit from free browser-based software), professional societies and curriculum projects (who leverage QUBES as a dissemination channel), and STEM education researchers (who use the platform for community building and assessment). The organization has cultivated a consortium of 15+ professional societies including ESA, NIBLSE, CourseSource, BSA, NEON, NABT, SMB, and NIMBioS, and operates a distributed team across the University of Pittsburgh, Radford University, BioQUEST, the College of William and Mary, and Bates College. With over 27,000 registered community members and 251+ citations of QUBES resources in academic literature, the platform has become a widely cited piece of educational infrastructure.

QUBES operates on a freemium model with no user fees, monetized entirely through grants and philanthropic support. The project was launched in 2014 with NSF Research Coordination Network in Undergraduate Biology Education (RCN-UBE) grants (No. 1446258, 1446269, 1446284), received a Hewlett Foundation grant in April 2020, and most recently secured a $493,000 NSF award in October 2024. Following the expiration of foundational NSF funding in August 2021, QUBES officially moved under BioQUEST management to ensure long-term sustainability. The organization maintains an active presence across LinkedIn, Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram, publishes regular newsletters, hosts weekly virtual office hours, and runs annual Summer Workshops and society minisymposia. In 2025, QUBES launched a new Grant Services offering to help external researchers initiate quantitative biology education projects while also generating a feedback revenue stream for the platform.

Name

Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis

Legal name

Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis (QUBES)

Website

https://www.qubeshub.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

QUBES is a non-profit open educational platform that provides undergraduate biology faculty with free browser-based modeling software, open educational resources, and Faculty Mentoring Networks, supported primarily by NSF grants and operated under BioQUEST.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

STEM Education Platform

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Computer Training (611420)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Lab & Science Virtual Labs (Chemistry, Biology, Physics) (EDAFAJAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Biology & Life Science Enrichment (Biotech, Genetics, Anatomy) (EDAMABAF), Virtual Labs, Remote Labs & Hands-On Practice Tools (EDAFABAH), Simulation-Based Learning & Virtual Labs (EDAGAEAG)

Keywords

• Open educational resources
• Faculty mentoring networks
• STEM education platform
• Biology teaching resources
• Online learning community

Headquarters

HQ city

Raymond

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. NSF Grant Funding: Primary funding from National Science Foundation grants (Grant No. 1446258, 1446269, and 1446284). In October 2024, BioQUEST received $493,000 from NSF to advance open education computational and data-centric resources in undergraduate biology education.
2. Hewlett Foundation Grant: On April 1, 2020, the Hewlett Foundation approved Grant No. 2020-1363 to Bates College for supporting more equitable and sustainable open education in undergraduate biology.
3. Free Platform Access: QUBES provides free resources, software, and community access to educators and students. The platform is supported by NSF and other funding agencies, with QUBES infrastructure officially moved under BioQUEST management in August 2021.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

QUBES is an open cyberinfrastructure platform that supports undergraduate biology educators and students by providing free open educational resources, browser-based computational software tools, and sustained Faculty Mentoring Networks (FMNs). The platform enables faculty to discover, adapt, and publish quantitative biology teaching materials, while professional development programs help instructors integrate quantitative approaches into their curricula.

Product overview

QUBES (Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis) is an educational technology platform offering a comprehensive ecosystem for quantitative biology education. The core platform (QUBES Hub) provides social cyberinfrastructure for sharing STEM resources and collaborating on educational reform. The platform's main components include an Open Educational Resources (OER) System for publishing and adapting teaching materials, a suite of Browser-Based Software Tools (R-Studio, Jupyter Notebooks, NetLogo, Copasi, and others) accessible directly through the browser, and Faculty Mentoring Networks (FMNs) that provide online peer communities connecting faculty with quantitative expertise to those seeking to integrate quantitative approaches. Additional services include Grant Services for project support. The platform is built on HubZero open-source technology and is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• QUBES Hub Platform An open cyberinfrastructure hub built on the HUBzero platform that hosts community-contributed teaching materials, computational tools, and discussion forums for undergraduate biology educators.
• Open Educational Resources (OER) Collection A curated, peer-reviewed collection of free teaching modules, lesson plans, datasets, and course materials covering quantitative biology topics, made available under open licenses for educators to adopt, adapt, and redistribute.
• Browser-Based Computational Software Tools Hosted, browser-accessible scientific computing environments including RStudio, Jupyter notebooks, and NetLogo that let students and faculty run quantitative biology analyses directly in a web browser without local installation.
• Faculty Mentoring Networks (FMNs) Structured, sustained professional development cohorts in which small groups of undergraduate biology faculty collaborate over several weeks to adapt, implement, and assess a shared quantitative teaching module, supported by an experienced mentor.
• Partner Network of Professional Societies and Curriculum Projects A coordinated network of more than 15 professional societies and curriculum projects that publish open teaching resources and co-host Faculty Mentoring Networks through QUBES.

Quantifiable outcome

• 70% of Faculty Mentoring Network participants produced and shared an adaptation of a data-driven curriculum module
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• HubZero (Purdue University)coreTechnology or IntegrationQUBES cyberinfrastructure is based on the HubZero platform, an open source content management system. HubZero provides the technical foundation for building dynamic websites, hosting software, sharing resources, and building communities.
• BioQUEST Curriculum ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerQUBES is a BioQUEST project. After NSF funding ended in August 2021, QUBES officially moved under BioQUEST management. BioQUEST has a 35+ year mission to build a transformative, collaborative community empowering Life Science educators.
• Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Science Education (NIBLSE)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNIBLSE is a QUBES partner organization contributing bioinformatics education resources and co-developing Faculty Mentoring Networks focused on integrating bioinformatics into life science education.
• Quantitative Biology at Community Colleges (QB@CC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner project focused on bringing quantitative biology resources specifically to community college settings, with dedicated Faculty Mentoring Networks.
• Ecological Society of America (ESA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerESA is a QUBES consortium partner. Organizations partner with QUBES to advertise education work, connect to the community, and virtually facilitate communities through group websites. ESA and QUBES co-develop Faculty Mentoring Networks.
• CourseSourcemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCourseSource is a QUBES partner that contributes open-access teaching resources for undergraduate biology courses.
• Botanical Society of America (BSA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBSA partners with QUBES to promote quantitative approaches in botany and plant biology education through resource sharing and community building.
• National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNEON provides data resources and partners with QUBES on Faculty Mentoring Networks focused on using NEON data in undergraduate education.
• Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSMB partners with QUBES to advance quantitative biology education through joint conferences, publications, and community activities.
• National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNABT collaborates with QUBES on conferences and professional development for biology teachers interested in quantitative approaches.
• BIO SIGMAAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMathematical Association of America special interest group that partners with QUBES for quantitative biology education initiatives.
• National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNIMBioS collaborates with QUBES on quantitative biology education and research initiatives.
• InTeGratemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInTeGrate partnered with QUBES to support adaptation of geoscience modules into introductory biology courses through Faculty Mentoring Networks.
• Dryad Digital RepositorymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDryadLab modules are featured on QUBES, providing authentic research datasets for undergraduate classrooms through Faculty Mentoring Networks.
• SimBiominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner providing simulation-based teaching materials integrated into QUBES Faculty Mentoring Networks.
• Ciliate Genomics Consortium (CGC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCGC is a QUBES partner community focused on ciliate genomics education and research.
• SABERminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSABER partners with QUBES to advance quantitative biology education research and practice.
• Molecular CaseNetminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMolecular CaseNet partners with QUBES to provide case-based learning resources for molecular biology education.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium: BioQUEST is QUBES's parent nonprofit with a 35+ year mission to empower life science educators through collaborative community and curricular resources. Most comparable as QUBES operates as a BioQUEST project and shares the same non-profit, community-driven, open educational resource model.
• CourseSource: CourseSource is a QUBES partner that publishes peer-reviewed, open-access teaching resources for undergraduate biology courses. Highly comparable as both organizations serve the same biology faculty audience with CC-licensed teaching materials and share resources through QUBES's platform.
• MERLOT: MERLOT is a long-standing free, open educational resource network for higher education faculty across disciplines. Comparable as a community-driven OER hub with peer review, member contributions, and a similar freemium/no-cost model to QUBES, though broader than QUBES's biology focus.
• LibreTexts: LibreTexts is a major open-access textbook and learning resource platform for STEM and other disciplines in higher education. Comparable as it provides free, remixed OER with a community-driven model and similar CC licensing philosophy to QUBES, with adjacent virtual lab and interactive content capabilities.
• Lumen Learning: Lumen Learning provides open educational resources and courseware for community colleges and universities, particularly for gateway courses. Comparable OER distribution and community college focus to QUBES's QB@CC initiative, though Lumen operates with more commercial orientation.
• PhET Interactive Simulations (University of Colorado Boulder): PhET provides free, browser-based interactive science simulations for physics, chemistry, biology, and math, with a focus on teaching and learning. Comparable as a university-hosted, grant-funded platform providing browser-based STEM learning tools and OER to faculty, similar in spirit to QUBES's browser-based modeling software access.
• NIBLSE (Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Science Education): NIBLSE is a QUBES partner organization focused on bioinformatics education resources and Faculty Mentoring Networks. Highly comparable as both serve the same biology faculty audience with similar FMN-based professional development and share distribution infrastructure through the QUBES Hub.

Broad incumbents

• OpenStax (Rice University): OpenStax is the most widely adopted OER publisher for higher education, offering free peer-reviewed textbooks across STEM and other disciplines. Comparable as a large-scale, foundation/grant-backed OER provider, though OpenStax operates at significantly greater scale and broader disciplinary scope than QUBES.

Emerging players

• Dryad Digital Repository: Dryad is a QUBES partner providing open research data publication, with DryadLab educational modules featured on QUBES. Comparable as a non-profit, community-oriented open science platform that integrates with QUBES for educational use of authentic research datasets.

Others

• HubZero (Purdue University): HubZero is the open-source cyberinfrastructure platform that QUBES is built upon, hosted at Purdue University. Comparable as the underlying enabling technology for QUBES's browser-based software access, community features, and resource hosting — a platform provider rather than direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/qubeshub
• Facebookfacebook.com/BioQUESTed
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bioquest-curriculum-consortium
• Instagraminstagram.com/bioquested

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis