Branching out

Neuroscience center gets cash to expand.

The Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience in Jupiter is getting new funds from its Germanybased parent to expand.

Max Planck, which employs 140 people, plans to boost staff by about 15 percent, said Matthias Haury, chief operating officer. Most of the positions will be for scientists.

“We’re opening another department with another research topic,” he said.

The research area will be in the realm of neuroscience, but the exact topic will depend on the candidate selected, Haury said.

The increased funding is a reward from the Munichbased Max Planck Society for a job well done, Haury said. “In scientific output and productivity, we’re among the best Max Planck institutes,” he said.

Max Planck Florida is led by David Fitzpatrick, who was appointed chief executive officer and scientific director in 2011.

While the newly hired scientists are likely to come from throughout the world, Max Planck said it is also building a pipeline of budding scientists in Jupiter.

“We are increasingly collaborating with our partners at Florida Atlantic University,” Haury said, pointing to a new undergraduate honors program in neuroscience there.

FAU has an honors program on the Jupiter campus that it shares with Max Planck and with Scripps Florida, a separate research institute that employs about 600.

The Max Planck Society is a 60-year-old independent, nonprofit scientific research organization with 83 institutes in Germany and the United States.

MAX PLANCK FLORIDA/COURTESY Max Planck Florida, which employs 140 people, is led by David Fitzpatrick, who was appointed CEO in 2011.