After the founding of the faculty in 1945, the activities of the staff of the institute consisted almost exclusively of teaching. From the beginning of the 1950s, research activities focused on higher nervous activity were started, and thus the future scientific profiling of the institute focused on experimental research of the nervous system was determined. Since the mid-1990s, research has focused on the pathophysiology of the cerebellum.

At present, the central point of the research focus remains the issue of cerebellar degeneration. Using several mouse models and more experimental approaches (behavioral, electrophysiological, histological, histo- and immunohistochemical methods), not only the pathogenetic mechanisms of these processes in various conditions (stress factors, enriched environment) are studied, but there is also an effort to find ways to influence them, for example with neuropharmaceuticals, growth factors and neurotransplantation. As part of this research, there is a long-term cooperation with a number of domestic and foreign laboratories. In recent years, the research activities of the department are linked with the scientific activities of the Biomedical Center.