Neurobiology

A tiny brain structure, the Locus coeruleus, is thought to regulate our brain's sensitivity to relevant information more

Dieter Oesterhelt, Emeritus Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, is being honoured with the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award 2021 together with Peter Hegemann and Karl Deisseroth more

Bavaria invests up to 500 million euros in the competitive development of the Martinsried Max Planck Campus into an outstanding international research hub more

Mice master complex thinking with a remarkable capacity for abstraction more

Myelin-forming glial cells are crucial for the temporal processing of acoustic signals more

Researchers increase the speed of signal transmission along nerve fibres in mice by switching off a protein more

The face of a mouse reveals its emotions more

A mouse’s brain creates a multi-sensory impression of the nearby environment more

Neurobiologists train artificial neural networks to map the brain more

Amacrine cell in the fruit fly visual system consists of electrically isolated subunits more

Mathias Grote, science historian and Heisenberg Fellow at Humboldt University, talks with Dieter Oesterhelt about his research more

Many publications by Max Planck scientists in 2020 were of great social relevance or met with a great media response. We have selected 13 articles to present you with an overview of some noteworthy research of the year more

Severed nerve tracts are very difficult to treat. If at all, the damage so far can only be repaired through complex operations. At the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, we have developed materials that stimulate damaged nerves into growth. Results from initial tests on mice show that nerve tracts can regenerate this way. more

Contrary to previous belief, learning processes do not occur exclusively in the cerebral cortex more

MRI study analyzes stress-processing brain regions in older city dwellers more

Scientists discover anatomical link for the loss of smell in Parkinson’s disease more

Scientists discover fundamental connectivity pattern in the brain more

Genetically modified mice deliver first indication that human intestinal bacteria can trigger multiple sclerosis more

Neurons in the amygdala link food consumption to reward more

Optobow method makes functional connections between individual neurons visible more

Learning and Memory leave behind anatomically visible traces. Tobias Bonhoeffer was the first to observe them. Together with his team, he examines the contact points between nerves, so-called dendrical thorns, and synapses. The researcher discovered that during learning some thorns newly develop and others dissappear. more