The brain and the nervous system control and monitor all activities of an organism's body. How can such a complex system develop? How does it fulfill its functions? And what happens when the nervous system is injured or attacked by pathogens? These are only some of the questions the 250 staff members of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology (MPIN) pursue. In the focus of the scientists' research are the minute changes of single nerve cells as well as the development and wiring of complex nerve cell networks.