Tobias Bonhoeffer is director of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology and professor at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.

His research is focused on deciphering the cellular foundations of learning and memory and how the brain adapts to its environment. Findings from his laboratory have contributed to the understanding that synaptic plasticity is accompanied by structural changes of dendritic spines. His group has also demonstrated that such structural changes are the reason why relearning of information acquired early in life is comparatively easy.

Bonhoeffer is the recipient of several awards and prizes, including the 2004 Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine. He serves on the scientific advisory boards of numerous leading institutions, including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Wellcome Trust. He is also an elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.