Dr. Karel Svoboda received a PhD in Biophysics from Harvard University (1994), where he measured the molecular scale movements and forces of individual kinesin molecules. He performed his postdoctoral work at Bell Laboratories, where he focused on synaptic and dendritic function in the cortex probed with new optical methods (1994-1997). From 1997 until 2006 he was a Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and, since 2000, an HHMI Investigator. At CSHL the Svoboda lab developed and exploited methods to track synaptic transmission and plasticity of individual connections in the intact brain. In 2006 the Svoboda lab moved to the newly established HHMI Janelia Research Campus, where Svoboda is a Group Leader.He received Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Prize in 2015.