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
|