Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence
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Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Intelligenz | |
 | |
| Abbreviation | MPI-BI |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1 January 2023 |
| Type | Research institute |
| Purpose | Basic research |
| Locations |
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| Fields | Organismic biology, ornithology, neurobiology, behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, evolutionary genetics, neuroscience |
Official languages | German, English |
Managing director | Manfred Gahr |
Parent organization | Max Planck Society |
| Staff | about 500 |
| Website | www.bi.mpg.de |
The Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (German: Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Intelligenz; abbreviated MPI-BI) is a non-university research institute of the Max Planck Society. The institute is dedicated to basic research on topics in behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology and neuroscience.[1] Research at the international institute focuses on how animal organisms acquire, store, apply and pass on knowledge about their environment in order to find ever-new solutions to problems and adapt to a constantly changing environment. Model organisms include Drosophila, zebrafish, mice and various bird species.
The board of directors manages the institute, with around 500 employees coming from more than 50 nations. One of the institute's directors is taking over as managing director for a specific time. As of February 2024, Manfred Gahr is the managing director of the institute.
The MPI-BI emerged in January 2022 from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology (MPIN) and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology (MPIO). Following a founding year, the legal founding of the institute took place on 1 January 2023.
Campus
The institute has two locations: At the nature-oriented Seewiesen campus, in the municipality of Pöcking near Starnberg, field research is combined with modern methods of behavioral biology. At the Martinsried campus in the southwest of Munich, neuroscientific research is currently the main focus. Here, laboratory experiments are combined with state-of-the-art methods such as optogenetics, connectomics or machine learning.