Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

The Institute was established in 1952 as a member of the research institute network of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) and it is currently the only institution in Hungary dedicated exclusively to basic medical research. Over the last decade the Institute has evolved into a premier neuroscience center with a focus on understanding neurotransmission, learning and memory, anxiety and depression, epilepsy, and neural control of the endocrine and immune systems. Institute scientists have adopted a farsighted basic strategy of using multidisciplinary approaches that combine the best of traditional methods with cutting-edge technologies. They are now especially well known for developing and applying state of the art cellular and molecular neuroanatomical-neurophysiological and neuropharmacological methods of analysis.

The Institute occupies about 9,000 square meters of laboratory space with a staff of about 170, including 81 researchers. The Medical Gene Technology Division is an important recent addition that includes vivarium facilities for 25,000 mice and 3,500 rats. Research and educational activity of the Institute is facilitated by a group of about 25 Ph.D. students, 25 undergraduates, half a dozen visiting scientists, and a similar number of visits to foreign laboratories by Institute students and scientists. Four scientists are members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and four high impact international journals have their chief editor’s or section editor’s offices in the Institute.

The Institute is focused on a range of topics at the gene, molecular, cellular, systems, and behavioral levels with foci in pharmacology, endocrinology, cellular and network neurobiology, development, and behavioral neurobiology.

The reputation of the Institute is reflected by the fact that in 2000, the European Commission awarded the “Center of Excellence” title for Institute of Experimental Medicine HAS.

Education activity

The Institute has trained PhD students and provides research opportunities for young scientists (equivalent of postdocs).

Close ties have been established with several Hungarian universities in the form of joint PhD programmes or undergraduate and graduate training.

The Institute hosts the Department of Neuroscience of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Faculty of Information Technology.

Researchers teach regularly at the Eötvös Loránd and Semmelweis University.

Fields of cooperation

In harmony with the interdisciplinary nature of neuroscience, the intramural cooperations are considered as effective and promising forms of research activity.

The Institute has scientific links with more than 50 institutions from nearly 20 countries, the majority of which are North American and European universities and research organizations, but it also has partners in Asia.

Cellular- and network-neurobiological studies

• High resolution, subcellular localization of proteins involved in synaptic transmission (transmitters, receptors) and in determining the intrinsic electrical properties of neurons (voltage gated ion channels).
• Molecular, physiological and pharmacological mechanisms of retrograde neurotransmission mediated by the endocannabinoid system.
• Basic synaptic mechanisms of short term plasticity and neuronal oscillations.
• Studies on the perturbation of neuronal circuits following epileptic and ischemic brain damage in humans and in rodent models.
• Microcircuits of the olfactory bulb.
• Combined in vivo physiological and anatomical investigation of sleep related oscillations and information transfer in the thalamus.
• Pacemaker properties and rhythmic electrical activity in the septohippocampal system.

Pharmacological studiess

• Pharmacological studies to uncover the role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in different brain regions
• Investigation of glutamatergic receptors in the cochlea
• Studies on oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced glutamate release with special respect to the role of purinergic receptors and adenosine.
• Examination of NMDA receptor-induced currents in cultured cortical cells. The direct inhibitory effect of the antidepressant drug fluoxetine.
• Importance of inhibition of NMDA receptors in the antidepressant effects of drugs.
• Two-photon laser scanning imaging studies on the role of working memory and dendritic Ca2+ regulation.
• Fine-tuning of the noradrenergic system in dendrites of cortical pyramidal cells.
• Patented novel scanning technology to improve investigation of cellular networks in 3 dimension.
• Importance of Ca²⁺ exchange mechanism in the development of operational units in the processes of neural cells.
• Understanding of different aspects of nonsynaptic transmission and various receptorial systems. Role of interneural communication forms in the medical therapy with special regard to the nonsynaptic receptors.
• Identification of new drug targets in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies.
• Balance and imbalance of catecholamines and cytokines; possible role in depression.

Endocrine neurobiological studies

• Studies on the pathogenesis of reproduction-, adaptation- and metabolism-related disorders to reveal potential drug targets.
• Organization and physiology of hypothalamic neurosecretory systems regulating endocrine events.
• Neuromorphological and electrophysiological aspects of endocannabioid signaling in the regulation of food intake and reproduction.
• Identification of estrogen-regulated expression profiles in the rodent brain.
• Hypothalamic regulatory mechanisms in obesity and nonthyroidal illness.
• Distribution of neuropeptides regulating food intake in the human and rodent brain.
• Regulation of time and region-dependent thyroid hormone activation in the brain by deiodination.
• Neurobiology of stress related disorders.
• Comparison of brain structures regulating the white and brown adipose tissue.
• Role of microglial cells in inflammation and ischemia.
  

Gene technological and developmental neurobiological studies

• Uncovering the common and distinct molecular and genetic bases of the multi-functional GABA signaling system by studying its molecular components, primarily the GABA-synthetic enzymes: their expression, regulation of their genes and the mode of their action in adult and developing brain and also in different embryonic tissues.
• Investigating the role of the cell adhesion molecule N-cadherin in developmental processes of the nervous system including neuronal path finding, formation of synaptic connections and in neuronal plasticity.
• Developing and utilizing transgenic approaches to genetically modify well defined neuronal cell types and circuits and signaling pathways in mice in order to better understand their role in brain function, development and disease.
• Studies on the in vitro neurogenesis using immortalized neuronal progenitor cells derived from embryonic mouse brains.
• Selection and characterization of implantable neuronal stem cell populations and studies on the in vivo neuron production after implantation of neuronal progenitor cells into different regions of adult mouse brains.

Behavioral neurobiological studies

• The study of the interactions between glucocorticoid stress response and emotional behavior, with special emphasis on aggression, anxiety, and traumatic experience.
• The study of the brain mechanisms of the stress response.
• Studies on the involvement of cannabinoid neurotransmission in anxiety, with an emphasis on stress-induced changes.