The Unit of Applied Neurobiology (UNA) is a neuroscientific and psychological research lab, that belongs to the CEMIC Research Direction, and is part of the CEMIC-CONICET Unit. It was founded as a CONICET program (PRUNA) in 1989 by Dr. Jorge A. Colombo, who was its director until 2014. Since the begining, the UNA was established as an interdisciplinary center for basic and applied studies of the development and the reorganization of the central nervous system. This interdisciplinary goal was realized through two main efforts. On the one hand, the permanent call for researchers and professionals from different disciplines: anthropology, biology, computer science, physics, medicine, psychology and sociology. On the other hand, from the development of different experimental approaches that included the implementation of animals and humans models, for the analysis of the nervous system at different levels: molecular, cellular, networks, behavioral, social, and cultural. In this context, in 1996 a research program was implemented aimed at: (a) studying how poverty is associated with self-regulatory development during the first two decades of life; (b) the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions aimed at optimizing children's self-regulatory development; and (c) the transfer of this knowledge to policy efforts.