Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN) was founded in 1872 as a privately-owned and operated marine biological research station, where scientists and students from all over the world could perform their research on fresh material and living marine organisms. The SZN provided the facilities and its staff took care of logistics and assistance. These days, SZN is a publicly-owned research institute operated by the Ministry of Research and Higher Education (MIUR). 

The mission of SZN is research on the biology and ecology of marine organisms, the study of their biodiversity, the analysis of fundamental biological processes and their potential bio-technological applications. SZN undertakes research in the field of marine bioresources, with an emphasis on the biotechnologies addressing the exploitation of molecules of marine origin for industrial processes, for the pharmaceutics, nutraceutics and other fields of interest.