The Croatian Institute for Brain Research (CIBR) is a scientific and educational branch of the University of Zagreb School of Medicine established for the purpose of multidisciplinary scientific research and structuring, execution and promotion of faculty, interfaculty and interuniversity teaching in the field of basic and clinical neuroscience. The CIBR was founded in 1991, and the building itself was completed in December 1998, so that today’s laboratories of the CIBR are active since 1999. Over the past decade, the CIBR has been the holder of the largest research programs in Croatia (Neurobiology of Cognitive Development and Cognitive Impairment – a total of 28 projects) and the organizer of the only doctoral studies in the field of neuroscience.
Today the CIBR represents a stimulating academic environment for bridging the gap between research and teaching in order to improve the knowledge about the central nervous system and facilitate the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures of patients suffering from the diseases of the central nervous system. Researchers with different fields of expertise cooperate on joint projects. The faculty of the CIBR is employed at different departments and research departments such as Neuroscience, Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Pathology, Physiology, Pharmacology, Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. Additionally, external associates are employees of different University of Zagreb departments, such as Physics and Biophysics, Psychology, Linguistics and Phonetics, and Special Education and Rehabilitation, as well as at the Ruđer Bošković Institute. The research at the clinical level is being carried out in coordination with the University Hospital Centre Zagreb, the largest university hospital in Croatia, as well as with other affiliated university hospitals. Together with students at the graduate and postdoctoral level, the researchers of the CIBR are active in the following research areas: normal development of the human cortex, developmental brain disorders, signaling mechanisms and molecules in the fetal and adult brain, pathophysiology of the liquor and hydrocephalus, neurodegenerative diseases, schizophrenia, and the role of the stem cells in the brain plasticity and recovery. The research on human cortex development and the Zagreb Neuroembryological Fetal Brain Collection are among the most prominent internationally recognized research areas of the CIBR.
The leading Croatian center for research in the field of neuroimaging (in collaboration with the University Hospital Centre Zagreb) is also located in the CIBR, and researchers of the CIBR have a well‐developed and diversified international cooperation. An important mission of the CIBR is to inform the public as well as the executive and judicial government about the importance of brain research. The CIBR is the seat of the Croatian Society for Neuroscience (since 2001), and therefore, CIBR has been the main organizer of the Brain Awareness Week in Croatia and other forms of promotion of neuroscience.