IMPACT YOUR WORLD

www.mpffoundation.org

YOUR BRAIN IS YOUR ENTIRE WORLD, AND IT’S OURS TOO.

Your brain is intimate. It is personal. In fact, your brain is your everything. It powers your emotions, memories, expressions and thoughts. It drives curiosity and fascination. It enables you to achieve your goals and impact the world around you.

Neurons in itory cortex (MPFI’s Bolton Lab) 1

In stark contrast to the vast importance of the brain, ourunderstanding of the brain remains one of the greatest challenges of today. At the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI), we relentlessly pursue the boundaries of knowledge to uncover answers to fundamental questions about the brain.

Cortical Chandelier Cells (MPFI’s Taniguchi Lab)

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There is a large gap in what we know about the brain that limits significant advances in treatments and cures for brain disorders.

SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND BRAIN DISORDERS

As your control center, your brain powers every action, thought and sense. While there is a great deal known about the brain, there is significantly more that remains unknown. MPFI focuses on bridging this gap of knowledge by studying neural circuits to better understand who we are, why we behave the way we do and how the debilitating effects of neurological and psychiatric disorders can be reduced.

The scientific community at large relies on basic research findings generated from institutions like ours to address questions such as:

> How does the brain change and develop over time?

> How do neurons communicate with each other?

> What molecules play a role in learning and memory?

> How do abnormal connections in the brain relate to disease?

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How many people do you know who’ve been affected by brain disorders?

– Depression– Autism– Schizophrenia– Alzheimer’s Disease– Parkinson’s Disease

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THE BURDEN OF BRAIN DISEASE Brain disorders are causing premature death and are robbing individuals and their families of what would otherwise be productive and healthy years of life. ___ According to the World Health Organization, the annual treatment costs, along with the number of new cases of brain disorders and diseases, is rising at an alarming rate.

1 in 5 adults experiences a mental health conditionsuch as anxiety 1

1 in 20 adults lives with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression 2

42.5 million adults1, 2 Source: National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) 3 Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

1 in 6 children has a developmental disability such as autism 3

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$1.1 trillion in 2050$226 billion in 2014

5x

2x

Money spent on medication and treatment could rise five times by 2050 1

Total economic impactprojected to double by 2040 2

1 Alzheimer’s Association 2 Kowal, S.L. et al. Mov Disord 2013; 28(3):311-318.

$28.8 billion in 2040$14.4 billion in 2014

AND THE BURDEN INCREASES

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND OTHER DEMENTIAS

PARKINSON’S DISEASE

Basic research lays the framework for the process of scientific innovation – without it, practical application vanishes.

New pharmaceutical and breakthrough medical therapies are only possible with new revelations supplied by basic science.

BASIC SCIENCE RESEARCH INTO

LED TO INNOVATIONS IN

Magnetic resonance

imaging (MRI)

Laser technology

Cholesterol medication

Cancer medication

Magneticfield gradients

Electro magnetic fields

Fungal metabolism

The electrical fields of bacteria

INVESTMENT IN BASIC SCIENCE LEADING TO CURES CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

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TO UNDERSTANDPARKINSON’S DISEASE …

... WE MUST FIRST UNDERSTAND MOVEMENT.

> Watch our video at mpffoundation.org1110/

TO UNDERSTANDALZHEIMER’SDISEASE ...

... WE MUST FIRST UNDERSTAND MEMORY.

> Watch our video at mpffoundation.org 1312/

TO UNDERSTANDAUTISM ...

... WE MUST FIRST UNDERSTAND EMOTION.

> Watch our video at mpffoundation.org 1514/

PHILOSOPHY Basic research fuels discoveryResearch motivated by an intense curiosity and a desire to explore the many realms of natural phenomena in our environment reveals fundamental principles at work in the world around us. It is this basic research that provides the very backbone needed for future medical and technological breakthroughs.

THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING:PHILOSOPHY, CULTURE AND COLLABORATION

Together with the Max Planck Society, MPFI is uniquely qualified to address the most complex issues in brain research through its unyielding commitment to discovery and people.

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CULTUREWe focus first on people, not on projects. We empower our scientists with the tools, resources and support they need to collaborate and explore answers to questions that other thought leaders are only beginning to ask.

It’s because of this unique commitment to the scientists – as individuals – that we attract the world’s brightest minds.

We accomplish this by recruiting outstanding doctoral students and immersing them in a stimulating environment that provides novel technologies to explain the function of brain circuits from molecules to behavior.

Our innovative programs are the first of their kind and illustrate the commitment and passion MPFI has to educate the next generation of trailblazing scientists.

MPFI researchers remain a step ahead because their creativity is able to thrive within our dynamic work setting. MPFI laboratories are spaces where great minds are empowered to pursue high-risk projects.

Our labs are incubators for ideas that serve as catalysts for innovation. It is this pioneering atmosphere that seeks to reveal what is missing in brain science, thereby uncovering what is missing in our world.

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Together with the Max Planck Society, we are among the most prestigious and successful scientific institutions attracting the world’s brightest minds.

The Max Planck Society is a science organization with a long tradition: For more than 60 years, it has stood for exceptional, results-oriented basic research in the life sciences, natural sciences and the humanities. Max Planck researchers continually advance into new dimensions of knowledge. To date, 18 of our scientists have been awarded a Nobel Prize, putting us on par with the most respected, influential and prestigious research institutes in the world. The Max Planck Society and its 83 research institutes enjoy a strong global network of scientific collaboration.

Where our current knowledge about the world ends is where Max Planck scientists seek answers – at the threshold to the unknown. They do this in fields that have not yet found their way into university curricula or ones that require elaborate equipment, large-scale devices or special libraries. Their basic research plays a key role in shaping the future and providing the vital building blocks for innovation.

Max Planck scientists create new medical applications, discover novel substances and materials, and advise politics, business and society on urgent issues relating to the development of our world. They train thousands of junior scientists, file patent applications, generate revenues through licenses, set up companies and create jobs. Thus, in the long run, investing in basic research pays for itself many times over.

Max Planck Society Impact Through Scientific Breakthroughs:

> Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies

> Decoding of the Neanderthal genome

> Cancer treatment Sutent

> STED microscopy

> Paternity test, forensics

> Optogenetics

> 2-Photon microscopy

> Serial blockface scanning electron microscopy

> Patch clamp electrophysiology technique

COLLABORATION: The Max Planck Society

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From microscopy and cell biology to engineering and physics, MPFI is accelerating advancement and making breakthrough discoveries possible.___ We develop novel techniques and technologies that allow us to see things we’ve never seen, go places we’ve never been and understand things we’ve never understood.

Brain regions related with memory, sensory input and motor control (MPFI’s Sakmann Lab) 2322/

BUT THERE IS A MISSING LINK TO MAKING THESE BREAKTHROUGH DISCOVERIES POSSIBLE …

…YOUWith your support, MPFI can equip researchers with the resources they need to discover the unknown.

Tomorrow’s critical advancements in brain science can only be made possible by your support today. Your impact on the world starts with the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience.

OUR DISCOVERIES ARE POWERED BY YOU.24/25