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Prof. Dr. Stefan Rotter

 

Vorstand 2017 - 2019

Prof. Dr. Stefan Rotter

Sektionssprecher "Computational Neuroscience"

Professor of Computational Neuroscience
Director, Bernstein Center Freiburg
Faculty of Biology
University of Freiburg
Hansastr. 9a
79104 Freiburg, Germany

Tel.: +49 (0)761 203 9316
Fax: +49 (0)761 203 9559

E-Mail: stefan.rotter@biologie.uni-freiburg.de
Homepage: http://www.bcf.uni-freiburg.de/people/details/rotter

 

Research Interests

My Computational Neuroscience Laboratory comprises a team of theoreticians from mathematics, physics, biology and various engineering sciences. We are interested in the relations between structure, dynamics and function of the neuronal networks of the brain, with a specific focus on the mammalian neocortex. Our work involves modeling and data analysis of (i) multi-scale neuronal network topology, (ii) spiking activity dynamics of recurrent networks, and (iii) biological function and dysfunction of neuronal networks. Mathematical (deterministic and stochastic) as well as computational methods (large-scale numerical simulations) are employed. The goal is to develop a theory of the brain which also supports a better understanding of the neuronal mechanisms underlying some brain diseases.

Research Topics

  • Computational neuroscience & brain theory
  • Relations between structure, dynamics & function in neuronal networks
  • Spiking activity dynamics in recurrent networks
  • Dynamic ensemble coding in structured networks

Techniques

  • Stochastic modeling of neuronal activity (e.g. stochastic point processes)
  • Stochastic modeling of neuronal networks (e.g. generalized random graphs)
  • Advanced statistical data analysis (e.g. higher-order correlations)
  • Large-scale numerical simulations

Ongoing Research Projects see here

 

Academic Background

2003 Habilitation in Neurobiology/Biophysics, thesis: Dynamics and Coding in Spiking Networks of the Neocortex - A Computational Neuroscience Approach
1994 PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Physics, thesis: Interacting stochastic point processes as a model for neuronal activity in the mammalian neocortex
1989-1992      PhD studies in Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and University of Tübingen
1989 Diploma (MSc) in Mathematics, University of Hamburg
1982-1989  Studies in Mathematics and Physics, University of Regensburg (Germany), Brandeis University Waltham (USA) and University of Hamburg (Germany)

Research Positions

2008-present  Professor of Computational Neuroscience
Bernstein Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg
2002-2008 Staff Scientist (tenured), Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg
Senior Scientist and Lecturer Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg
1996-2002 Assistant Professor of Theoretical Neurobiology and Biophysics
Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg
1993-1996 Postdoctoral Research Fellow Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen
1989-1992 Research Associate Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen

Professional Activities

2015 – present Member of the Executive Board in the Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools
2015 – present Member of the Executive Committee of the German Neuroscience Society (NWG), spokesman of the section "Computational Neuroscience"
2012-present Principal Investigator in the Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools
2010-present  Director of the Bernstein Center Freiburg
2010-present Editor of journal special issues and books in computational neuroscience
2009 Co-coordinator of the Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology Freiburg-Tübingen
2004 Founding member of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Freiburg
2003-present Co-organizer and faculty of the annual course “Analysis and Models in Neurophysiology” (sponsored by the German Neuroscience Society, NWG)
2001 Member of the scientific board for the “7th Annual Symposium of the German-American Frontiers of Science (GAFOS)” (Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung and National Academy of Sciences)
2000-2011 Principal Investigator in the Freiburg Neuroscience CRC (SFB 505/780)
2000 and 2006     Faculty at the “Advanced Course for Computational Neuroscience”
1999-present                         Co-organizer of symposia and conferences in Computational Neuroscience
1998-present Coordinator or principal investigator of national and international research grants, funded by German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), German Research Foundation (DFG), German-Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP), and German-Israeli Foundation (GIF)
1996-present Developing lectures and courses in the graduate program Computational Neuroscience
1993-present Ad hoc referee for various journals in systems neuroscience, computational neuroscience, and physics

 

Publications

Articles in Journals

Publikationen in deutscher Sprache

  • Veit M, Aertsen A, Egert U, Rotter S
    Es ist wie eine Familie zu gründen und Eltern zu werden
    Wissenschaftsmanagement, Ausgabe 3/2016 (pdf)
  • Albaum K, Devant M, Veit M, Rotter S
    Das Gehirn im Rechner
    Surprising Science, Universität Freiburg, 08/2016 (link)
  • B Wiebelt, M Janczyk, D von Suchodoletz, A Aertsen, S Rotter, G Quast, M Schumacher, A Greiner
    Strukturvorschlag für eine bwHPC-Governance der ENM-Community
    In: D von Suchodoletz, JC Schulz, J Leendertse, H Hotzel, M Wimmer (Hrsg.)
    Kooperation von Rechenzentren: Governance und Steuerung - Organisation, Rechtsgrundlagen, Politik 
    De Gruyter, Oldenburg, 2016 (pdf)
  • Müller O, Rotter S
    Neurotechnologie: Aktuelle Entwicklungen und ethische Fragen
    FIfF-Kommunikation 2/2016 (pdf | synopsis)
  • Rotter S
    Ein Computermodell für die Sehrinde
    In: Aktuelle Ergebnisse der Gesundheitsforschung
    Newsletter 78, April 2016 (pdf)
  • Ahrens B, Rotter S
    Promotion bei Mutter, Vater, Onkel und Tante
    Deutsche Universitätszeitung 09, 2015 (pdf)
  • Rotter S, Kirsch J
    Interdisziplinärer Ausbildungspfad in den Neurowissenschaften
    In: Albert‐Ludwigs‐Universität Freiburg (Hg.)
    Kreativ, Innovativ, Motivierend – Lehrkonzepte in der Praxis, 2015 (pdf)
  • Grah G, Rotter S
    Von Neuronen zu Netzwerken. Mathematische Gehirnmodelle
    Biologie in unserer Zeit 39(6): 418-425, 2009 (pdf)

2016

  • Deniz T, Rotter S
    Joint Statistics of Strongly Correlated Neurons via Dimensional Reduction
    arXiv: 1609.00900 [q-bio.NC], 2016
  • Deniz T, Rotter S
    Solving the 2-dimensional Fokker-Planck equation for strongly correlated neurons
    arXiv: 1604.03619 [physics.bio-ph], 2016
  • Jovanović S, Rotter S
    Interplay between graph topology and correlations of third order in spiking neuronal networks
    PLOS Computational Biology 12(6): e1004963, 2016 (pdf | synopsis)

2015

  • Lagzi F, Rotter S
    Dynamics of competition between subnetworks of spiking neuronal networks in the balanced state
    PLOS ONE 10(9): e0138947, 2015 (pdf | synopsis)
  • Sadeh S, Clopath C, Rotter S
    Emergence of functional specificity in balanced networks with synaptic plasticity
    PLOS Computational Biology 11(6): e1004307, 2015 (pdf | synopsis)
  • Sadeh S, Clopath C, Rotter S
    Processing of feature selectivity in cortical networks with specific connectivity
    PLOS ONE 10(6): e0127547, 2015 (pdf | synopsis)
  • Jovanović S, Hertz J, Rotter S
    Cumulants of Hawkes point processes
    Physical Review E 91: 042802, 2015 (pdf | synopsis)
  • Sadeh S, Rotter S
    Orientation selectivity in inhibition-dominated networks of spiking neurons: effect of single neuron properties and network dynamics
    PLOS Computational Biology 11(1): E1004045, 2015 (pdf | synopsis)

 

   A full publication list is found here
   http://www.bcf.uni-freiburg.de/people/details/rotter