Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience

Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience

The Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience seeks to provide a new understanding of the origins, development, and function of the nervous system and its capacity to produce perception, thought, language, memory, emotion, and action. MPFI is the Max Planck Society’s first and only institute in North America. Situated in the growing biosciences cluster in South Florida, MPFI provides a vibrant, collaborative environment where scientists conduct high impact research at the cutting edge.

Contact

One Max Planck Way
Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
Phone: +1 561 972-9000
Fax: +1 561 972-9001

PhD opportunities

This institute has an International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS):

IMPRS for Synapses and Circuits

In addition, there is the possibility of individual doctoral research. Please contact the directors or research group leaders at the Institute.
 

Department Functional Architecture and Development of Cerebral Cortex

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Department Molecular Biotechnology for Neural Dynamics and Therapeutics

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Department Neuronal Signal Transduction

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Researchers are working to understand how vision comes together

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Largest grant in the eight-year history of the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience

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Advanced super-resolution imaging technology benefiting life sciences will now be available in the U.S.

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Researchers from Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, Duke University, and collaborators have identified a novel signaling system controlling neuronal plasticity

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Florida-based Max Planck researchers optimize a spatiotemporally controlled method to induce and visualize synapse formation in cortical neurons

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In college they called him Stump – as in tree stump – because of his physique and his strong will. Today, former football player Samuel Young is a renowned neuroscientist.

The delayed execution of planned movement until a specific cue is essential for everyday behavior. For example, we wait until the traffic light turns green before turning. Now scientists have discovered how the brain uses an environmental cue, like a green light, to turn plans into action. This work offers insight into how brain activity is orchestrated to control complex behaviors. However, it also provides insight into the circuits that control cue-triggered movement, findings that may help optimize the treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease.

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Memory captures our daily experiences and shapes who we are. Yet our brain does not passively record individual moments, but internally processes these moments in the hippocampus, where they are linked into interconnected sequences of episodic memories. There, some neurons activate sequentially as an animal navigates through space or performs a memory task. As if the memory were being retraced, the same sequence reoccurs whenever the task is repeated.

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Neurexins are proteins in the presynaptic terminals of neurons that reach across the synapse to link to a partner protein on the postsynaptic side. This partnership is important for the formation and function of synapses. Genetic studies indicate that mutations in one member of the neurexin family, neurexin1α (NRXN1α), are found in patients with schizophrenia and autism. We discovered that specific synapses in a part of the fear center of the brain, the amygdala, are particularly susceptible to the loss of NRXN1α, leading to poor ability to learn and understand fear inducing stimuli.

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Specific cell adhesion molecules regulate the cell-type specific synapse formation of chandelier cells in the cortex

2019 Steinecke, André; Taniguchi, Hiroki

Cell Biology Neurosciences Structural Biology

Chandelier cells are inhibitory interneurons that selectively innervate the axon initial segment of pyramidal neurons in the cortex. This synapse placement allows them to suppress the initiation of action potentials in the contacted neurons. Using a combination of genetic and optical methods we discovered a specific cell adhesion molecule that regulates the cell-type specific synapse formation of chandelier cells. Disrupting the associated gene in either the pyramidal neurons or chandelier cells leads to serious malformations in the neural network.

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Inhibition gates cerebellar computation, plasticity, and motor learning

2018 Christie, Jason

Cell Biology Neurosciences

Our unconscious ability to perform practiced movements with little effort is often attributed to “muscle memory”. Of course, our muscles don’t retain memories, our brains do. For motor control, a particular brain region called the cerebellum is important for encoding “muscle memories” during learning. Yet although the cerebellum receives a near constant barrage of neuronal signals, we recently discovered that learning does not occur continuously, but only under highly regulated circumstances. Key to this regulatory process is an inhibitory cell type called molecular layer interneurons (MLIs).

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