Herwig Baier's research aims to understand how animal brains convert sensory inputs into behavioral responses and how evolution has shaped neuronal circuits.

In 1990, he joined Friedrich Bonhoeffer's laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, where he obtained his diploma (1990) and PhD degree (1995).

The overarching theme of Baier's scientific contributions to neuroscience has been the elucidation of molecular, cellular, synaptic and circuit mechanisms of neuronal development, nervous system function, and animal behavior.

He is an Honorary Professor of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

In 2001, Herwig Baier co-founded, with Bill Harris and Paul Goldsmith, Daniolabs Ltd (Cambridge, UK), a biotech company with a focus on zebrafish drug screening for the discovery new treatments of ophthalmic, neurological and gastrointestinal diseases.