Hungarian neuroscience research centre specializing in brain circuit electrophysiology, optogenetics, and advanced microscopy, with deep integration in the Human Brain Project.
HUN-REN IEM (Institute of Experimental Medicine) is Hungary's leading neuroscience research centre, specializing in understanding brain circuits at the cellular and synaptic level. Their core work involves mapping how neurons communicate — using advanced electrophysiology, optogenetics, and two-photon microscopy to study the hippocampus, thalamus, and cortex. They are a key contributor to the Human Brain Project, providing experimental data on mouse and human brain structure, and they investigate neurological conditions including neuroinflammation, microglia function, and neurodegenerative disease mechanisms.
Projects DeCode, FunctionalProteomics, HippAchoMod, nanoAXON, CholAminCo, FRONTHAL, and HippoFronThal all investigate synaptic and circuit-level mechanisms in hippocampus, thalamus, and cortex using patch-clamp and in vivo electrophysiology.
VISONby3DSTIM developed 3D acousto-optic two-photon microscopy for visual restoration; CholAminCo, FRONTHAL, and related projects use optogenetics for circuit dissection.
Participated in all three HBP Specific Grant Agreements (SGA1, SGA2, SGA3) plus the ICEI computing infrastructure project, contributing neuroinformatics data and mouse brain reconstructions.
MicroCONtACT (€2M ERC grant) studied microglial control of neuronal activity; ENTRAIN examined endothelial-macrophage interactions in neuroinflammation; PurinesDX focused on purinergic receptor control of neuroinflammation.
FunctionalProteomics (€2.5M, their largest grant) combined patch-clamp with proteomic fingerprinting of single synapses; nanoAXON studied glutamatergic axon terminal physiology.
CholAminCo studied cholinergic-dopaminergic interactions in learning, ACoDM investigated amygdala's role in decision making, and HippoFronThal (2021) explores thalamic roles in memory — signaling growing interest in higher cognitive functions.
In the early period (2016–2018), HUN-REN IEM focused heavily on single-cell and subcellular neuroscience — optogenetics, mouse brain reconstruction, transcriptomics, and advanced microscopy techniques like 3D acousto-optic two-photon imaging. In the later period (2019–2021), their work shifted toward systems-level neuroscience and computational infrastructure, with repeated emphasis on brain simulation, neuroinformatics, high-performance computing, and network-level hippocampal dynamics. The institute has also expanded from purely experimental work toward integrating their data into large-scale digital brain models through the Human Brain Project's EBRAINS platform.
HUN-REN IEM is moving from single-cell experimental work toward systems-level understanding of memory and cognition, increasingly integrated with European digital brain infrastructure — making them a strong partner for projects bridging wet-lab neuroscience with computational modeling.
HUN-REN IEM predominantly leads its own projects — 10 of 17 H2020 projects were coordinated by them, mostly ERC grants (4 Consolidator, 2 Advanced) and MSCA fellowships, reflecting strong individual PI-driven research. Their participant roles are concentrated in the Human Brain Project consortium and related training networks. With 195 unique partners across 21 countries, they maintain a broad European network, but their coordination pattern suggests they function best as independent research leaders who contribute specialized experimental data to larger initiatives rather than as consortium managers of complex multi-partner projects.
With 195 unique partners across 21 countries, HUN-REN IEM has built a wide European network, substantially boosted by their participation in the massive Human Brain Project consortium. Beyond HBP, their ERC and MSCA projects connect them to leading neuroscience labs across the EU.
HUN-REN IEM combines world-class experimental neuroscience capabilities — particularly in electrophysiology, optogenetics, and advanced microscopy — with direct integration into Europe's largest brain research infrastructure (HBP/EBRAINS). Few institutes can offer both the wet-lab expertise to record from individual synapses and the data pipeline to feed results into continental-scale brain simulations. For consortium builders, they bring a rare combination: a track record of winning competitive ERC funding independently, plus proven ability to deliver experimental data within large collaborative frameworks.
