The Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology (INMED) is one of the largest neuroscience centers of the French Medical Research Council (INSERM). The research aims of INMED is to study brain development, plasticity and brain disorders. This includes studies on synaptic efficacy in various conditions, alterations produced with relevant animal models and human material. The last decade of this millennium is associated with spectacular developments in understanding of brain mechanisms. This is due to the importance of neurological diseases but also to the fact that the brain represents an ultimate frontier, since understanding its mechanisms will have an enormous impact on all the areas of human life. Research in brain sciences has benefited enormously from the spectacular progress in electrical recording techniques, molecular biology, genetics, brain imaging and communication sciences, as well as computer analysis of brain networks. The essence of cortical functions is to generate and enable the propagation of neuronal activity by cortical networks in order to generate a coherent behaviourally relevant pattern. In pathogenic situations, these mechanisms are altered and lead to permanent modifications of cellular and network driven excitability and patterns. The question is then to determine (at the synapse level) the mechanisms that underlie the normal and abnormal generation of these patterns. "I am convinced that a triple approach will dominate research in Neurosciences: recording, dynamic imaging notably in intact preparations  which bear relevance to physiological and pathophysiological reality." Yehezkel BEN-ARI Director