The Genes and Behavior Department investigates the dynamic interplay between gene expression, development and behavior#.

Developmental Biology of the Nervous System

Research focusing on mammalian brain development takes advantage of a gene expression database (www.genepaint.org) in which a very large number of gene expression patterns are stored. Mining these data allows us to rationally design mouse mutants defective in certain brain regions and/or locally missing specific genes. Analysis of mutant phenotypes unravels how genetic networks regulate the development and function of the brain. more...

Circadian Clocks

The second focus of research is on circadian clocks which determine sleep/wake and daily feeding patterns, regulate the 24-hour patterns of production of certain hormones and steer other biological activities that are tied to the recurring day/night cycle. Genetic mouse models are used to study how environmental cues, such as light, entrain the circadian clock. A main effort is directed towards genes that mediate light-evoked clock resetting and at factors that coordinate the interaction between the master clock of the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the subordinate clocks residing in many peripheral organs. more...

Functional Genomics of the Brain

The third focus of research concerns functional genomics. Work using robotic in situ hybridization reveals in detail the spatial and temporal dynamics of the transcriptome in the developing and adult mammalian brain. It is thought that localization of RNAs in dendrites provides a mechanism for in situ synthesis proteins that then specify – in part - physiological properties of neurons. Efforts are direct towards the visualization of mRNAs and miRNAs in neurons in brain tissue sections and in cultured neurons using previously established robotic technologies. more...

Areas of research pursued in the Genes and Behavior Department are interwoven: behavior emerges from the complexity of brain architecture that is laid down during pre- and postnatal development. Development, in turn, is driven - to a significant extent - by the orchestrated expression of genes.

# The department, previously named “Molecular Embryology”, was initially established at the now closed Max Planck Institute of Experimental Endocrinolgy in Hannover, Germany.