The Institute was established in 1952 as a member of the research institute network of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 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.