[4] The institute had been associated with the Max Planck Society since 2006, known as the Center of Advanced European Studies and Research (caesar) and has had its focus on neurosciences since this time.

The team of researchers at the MPINB is interdisciplinary and brings together unique expertise: biologists, physicists, computer scientists, veterinarians and psychologists work together to unravel the causal link between neural activity and complex natural behaviors.

The research questions drive the development of new technology, both in experimental instrumentation as well as in computational modeling and data analysis methods.

In addition to the technological breadth of the research groups and departments at MPINB, the neuroethological questions are comparative in nature and incorporate a diverse set of species allowing to study a wide repertoire of behaviors across the animal kingdom.

The Center of Advanced European Study and Research (caesar) was founded in 1995 as part of the compensatory actions under the Berlin/Bonn law, which were intended to support structural change in the region of the former capital.