Herwig Baier

Herwig Baier is Director of the Department for Genes - Circuits - Behavior at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (formerly Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology), where he leads a prominent research group investigating the neural basis of behavior using zebrafish as a model organism. His laboratory combines genetic, imaging, and behavioral approaches to understand how neural circuits generate behavior.

Dr. Baier received his biology education at the University of Konstanz, completed his doctorate in 1995 under Friedrich Bonhoeffer at the MPI for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Diego (1995-1998). He served as Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (1998-2012) before becoming Director at the Max Planck Institute in 2011.

His research focuses on understanding how genes, neural circuits, and behavior are interconnected, with particular emphasis on visual processing, decision making, and social behavior in zebrafish. His laboratory has pioneered techniques for whole-brain imaging, optogenetic manipulation, and connectomic analysis in larval zebrafish, making significant contributions to mapping the neural circuits underlying prey capture, escape responses, and social recognition. The lab's work spans molecular, cellular, circuit, and behavioral levels of analysis, creating a comprehensive understanding of brain function.

Analysis of Dr. Baier's recent publications (2021-2025) reveals a strong focus on neural circuit mapping at increasingly higher resolution, from cellular to synaptic levels, while connecting these structural findings to behavioral outputs. His work demonstrates how specific neural populations process visual information, make decisions, and generate appropriate motor responses, with significant contributions to understanding topographic organization in the brain and how genetic programs shape neural circuitry.

Dr. Baier leads a large, collaborative research team with numerous postdocs, technicians, and students working on various aspects of zebrafish neuroscience. His laboratory has developed critical transgenic tools and methodological approaches that have been widely adopted by the neuroscience community, including optogenetic tools, calcium indicators, and brain atlases that facilitate circuit-level analysis in zebrafish.