Tobias Bonhoeffer (born January 9, 1960 in Berkeley, California) is a German neurobiologist. He is director at the Max Planck Ins*ute of Neurobiology (now Max Planck Ins*ute for Biological Intelligence, in foundation) and head of the department Synapses – Circuits – Plasticity.

Contents

• 1 Education
• 2 Career
• 3 Scientific focus
• 4 Other activities
• 5 Recognition
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Education

Bonhoeffer studied physics at the University of Tübingen and conducted the research for his PhD thesis at the Max Planck Ins*ute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen.

Career

Bonhoeffer worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Rockefeller University and at the Max Planck Ins*ute for Brain Research in Frankfurt. He led an independent research group at the Max Planck Ins*ute of Psychiatry in Munich and was appointed Director at the Max Planck Ins*ute of Neurobiology in 1998. Between 2008 and 2011 Bonhoeffer was head of the Biomedical Section of the Max Planck Society. He was elected chairperson of the Scientific Council of the Max Planck Society in 2017.

Scientific focus

Bonhoeffer's scientific research is focused on the cellular foundations of learning and memory, as well as on the early postnatal development of the brain.

Bonhoeffer's work led to a number of important scientific discoveries. Among these are:

1. the demonstration of the existence of "pinwheels" in the mammalian visual system by intrinsic optical imaging. (Bonhoeffer & Grinvald, Nature 1991)
2. the demonstration that neurotrophins, and in particular the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, play an important role in synaptic plasticity. (Korte et al., PNAS 1995 & 1996)
3. the observation that the functional strengthening of synapses goes along with morphological changes of the nerve cell, more specifically with the formation of dendritic spines. (Engert & Bonhoeffer, Nature 1999)
4. the demonstration that hippocampal spines show an activity-dependent, bidirectional structural plasticity. (Nägerl et al., Neuron 2004)
5. the demonstration that long-lasting synaptic plasticity depends on both, protein synthesis and protein degradation. (Fonseca et al., Neuron 2006)
6. the insight that that new synaptic contacts established during a learning process stay put, even after the learned information is forgotten. This facilitates later relearning. (Hofer et al., Nature 2009)

Other activities

• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Member of the Science Advisory Board (since 2016)
• Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Member (since 2010)
• European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Member
• Max Planck Society, Member of the Senate
• Veneto Ins*ute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board
• Wellcome Trust, Member of the Board of Governors (2014–2021)
• Gruber Foundation, Member of the Neuroscience Selection Advisory Board (2015–2018)
• Friedrich Miescher Ins*ute for Biomedical Research (FIM), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board (2009, 2018)

Recognition

Bonhoeffer received, among others, the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine in 2004. He is member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) since 2009 and member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina since 2010. In 2020, Bonhoeffer was elected as member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

References

External links

• Homepage of the department of Synapses – Circuits – Plasticity

Projects and facilities

• 1000 Genomes Project
• Big Picture
• Cambridge Biomedical Campus
• Cancer Genome Project
• ChEMBL
• Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
• COSMIC cancer database
• DECIPHER
• Diamond Light Source
• eLife
• Ensembl
• Farmcare
• Genome Reference Consortium
• Human Genome Project
• Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust
• MEROPS
• Pfam
• Rfam
• UK Biobank
• Wellcome Collection
• Wellcome Genome Campus
• Wellcome Library
• WormBase

Board of Governors

• Eliza Manningham-Buller
• Michael Ferguson
• Tobias Bonhoeffer
• Alan Brown
• William Burns
• Bryan Grenfell
• Naguib Kheraj
• Fiona Powrie

Executive Leadership Team

• Jeremy Farrar
• Chris Bird
• Stephen Caddick
• Simon Chaplin
• Alyson Fox
• Peter Pereira Gray
• Mark Henderson
• Chonnettia Jones
• Tim Livett
• Nick Moakes
• Kathy Poole
• Jim Smith
• James Thomas
• Ed Whiting

Former directors

• Peter Williams (1965–1991)
• Bridget Ogilvie (1991–1998)
• Michael Dexter (1998–2008)
• Mark Walport (2003–2013)

Other key people

• Damon Buffini
• William Castell
• Dominic Cadbury
• Harold Cook
• Kay Davies
• Oliver Franks
• Roger Gibbs
• Henry Dale
• Richard Hynes
• Anne Johnson
• Roy Porter
• Peter Rigby
• David Steel
• David Stuart
• John Sulston
• Henry Wellcome

Awards and fellowships

• Capital Awards
• Collaborative Awards in Science
• Investigator Awards in Science
• Ins*utional Strategic Support Fund
• Science Strategic Award
• Sir Henry Dale Fellowship
• Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Wellcome Book Prize
• Wellcome Image Awards
• Wellcome Trust Centre
• Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow
• Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow

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