Ilona Grunwald Kadow appointed Max Planck Fellow at MPINB

The University of Bonn neuroscientist will establish a Max Planck Fellow Group at MPINB to investigate how interactions between the brain and the body influence behavior.

To the Point

• Ilona Grunwald Kadow has been appointed Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar (MPINB) in Bonn.
• Her research investigates how signals from the body and the environment influence neural processing and behavior.
• The Fellowship will strengthen scientific collaboration between the University of Bonn and MPINB, including the training and mentoring of early-career researchers.

The Max Planck Society has appointed Professor Ilona C. Grunwald Kadow as a Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar. Grunwald Kadow is Professor of Physiology and Director of the Institute of Physiology II at the University of Bonn as well as Vice Rector for Research and Career Development. As part of the five-year Fellowship, she will establish and lead a research group at MPINB investigating how interactions between the brain and the body influence behavior.

How the body shapes behavior

Animals constantly need to adapt their behavior to changing circumstances. What they do depends not only on what they see, smell or otherwise perceive in their environment, but also on their internal state. Hunger, fatigue, reproductive state and other physiological conditions can change how sensory information is processed and which actions an animal chooses.

Grunwald Kadow investigates how the nervous system integrates these internal signals with information from the outside world. Her research connects processes at different levels, from molecular and physiological mechanisms to neural circuits and the behavior of the whole animal.

A particular focus of her recent research is communication between the brain and other organs. Using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, her team has investigated how adipose tissue communicates with neural circuits involved in learning and food choice. Their work shows how signals originating outside the brain can influence neural processing and contribute to adaptive behavior.

Connecting brain, body and behavior at MPINB

This research perspective complements the work at MPINB, where researchers investigate the neural mechanisms underlying natural behavior. The new Max Planck Fellow Group will combine her expertise in physiology and metabolism with advanced imaging and connectomics methods at MPINB. “As a Max Planck Fellow, I want to connect our shared scientific interests even more closely and open up new directions for research. I am particularly looking forward to advancing research into brain-body interactions using state-of-the-art imaging and connectomics approaches. At the same time, the Fellowship offers an opportunity to further strengthen Bonn as a neuroscience hub and to build new bridges between the University and the Max Planck Society. Supporting early-career researchers at both institutions is especially important to me,” says Ilona Grunwald Kadow. Her appointment also strengthens a research area that is central to MPINB: understanding how internal states and neural circuits interact to shape natural behavior. “We are very excited to welcome Ilona as a Max Planck Fellow at our institute. Her work on how internal physiological states shape neural processing and behavior fits extremely well with the research at MPINB. Kevin and I are looking forward to many exciting years of research, exchange and collaboration,” says Jason Kerr, Managing Director of MPINB.

Strengthening collaboration in Bonn

The appointment builds on Grunwald Kadow’s long-standing links with the Max Planck Society. From 2008 to 2018, she led an independent Max Planck Research Group at the then Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried. Since 2022, she has been Professor of Physiology and Director of the Institute of Physiology II at the University of Bonn. In August 2024, she became Vice Rector for Research and Career Development.

Beyond joint research, the Fellowship is also intended to strengthen exchange between early-career researchers at both institutions. Grunwald Kadow is already involved in mentoring doctoral researchers at MPINB and contributes to graduate education within the International Max Planck Research School for Brain and Behavior.

About the Max Planck Fellow Programme

The Max Planck Fellow Programme promotes collaboration between outstanding university professors and researchers of the Max Planck Society. Max Planck Fellows are appointed for a period of five years and lead a small research group at a Max Planck Institute alongside their university position.

About the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior

The MPINB focuses on basic research in neuroethology. International researchers at the institute study how the collective activity of vast numbers of neurons gives rise to the plethora of animal behaviors. The interdisciplinary research spans from imaging neural circuits at the nanoscale to analyzing neural activity in a freely moving and naturally behaving animal. The MPINB works closely with the University of Bonn and other local research institutes to train the next generation of young scientists in a joint graduate school.

Press contact

Prof. Dr. Ilona Grunwald KadowTel. 0228 / 287-53202E-Mail: Ilona.grunwald@uni-bonn.de