Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
Encyclopedia
The Max Planck Institute for Brain Research is located in Frankfurt
, Germany
. It was founded as Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
for Brain Research in Berlin 1914, and moved into new buildings in Frankfurt 1962. It is one of 80 institute in the Max Planck Society
(Max Planck Gesellschaft).
as well as the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies and the Ernst Strüngmann Institute.
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It was founded as Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science was a German scientific institution established in 1911. It was implicated in Nazi science, and after the Second World War was wound up and its functions replaced by the Max Planck Society...
for Brain Research in Berlin 1914, and moved into new buildings in Frankfurt 1962. It is one of 80 institute in the Max Planck Society
Max Planck Society
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes publicly funded by the federal and the 16 state governments of Germany....
(Max Planck Gesellschaft).
Research
Research at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research focuses on the operation of brain circuits. It is carried out in the scientific departments of Erin Schuman and of Gilles Laurent, in the Emeritus Group of Wolf Singer, and in several research units. Two new scientific departments will soon be added, together with the transfer of most research activities to a new Institute building, to be inaugurated in 2012. The common research goal of the Institute is a mechanistic understanding of neurons and synapses, of the structural and functional circuits which they form, of the computational rules which describe their operations, and ultimately, of their roles in driving perception and behavior. The experimental focus is on all scales required to achieve this understanding - from networks of molecules in dendritic compartments to networks of interacting brain areas. This includes interdisciplinary analyses at the molecular, cellular, multi-cellular, network and behavioral levels, often combined with theoretical approaches.Graduate Program
The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Neural Circuits is a graduate program offering a Ph.D. The school is run in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am MainJohann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
The Goethe University Frankfurt was founded in 1914 as a Citizens' University, which means that, while it was a State university of Prussia, it had been founded and financed by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt am Main, a unique feature in German university history...
as well as the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies and the Ernst Strüngmann Institute.