Stefan Rotter
Faculty
Prof. Dr. Stefan Rotter
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
Principal Investigator in
- A1-BCCN: Stochastic Models
- A3-BCCN: Functional Plasticity
- A4-BCCN: Structural Plasticity
- A5-BCCN: Relational Learning
- C4-BCCN: Adaptive Movement Control
- B4-BFNT: NeurOnline: System for on-site/on-line monitoring of neuronal population activity
- B5-BFNT: NetCAD: An environment for 3D structural modeling of biological neuronal networks
- D5: METACOMP - Adaptive control of motor prostheses (German-Israeli Project Cooperation DIP / BMBF)
- D8: Neural circuitry of impulse control: An integrative approach towards the understanding of normal and impaired impulse control in humans (BMBF-Cognition)
- D9: Influence of columnar and laminar synapctic connectivity patterns on spontaneous and stimulus-induced network dynamics in rat sensory neocortex (SFB 780)
- EuroSPIN
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
CV
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
- since November 2010: Member of the Board of Directors of the Bernstein Center Freiburg
- since April 2008: Professor for Computational Neuroscience
Faculty of Biology & Bernstein Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg - October 2005: Founding member of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Freiburg
- 2002 – 2008: Staff Scientist for 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 for Theoretical Neurobiology and Biophysics
Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg - 1993 – 1996: Research Associate for Neuroscience
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen
Professional Activities
- 2010 – present: Editor of journal special issues and books in computational neuroscience
- 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 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
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 is 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 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.
Publications
Articles in Journals
2013
- Pernice V, Deger M, Cardanobile S, Rotter S
The relevance of network micro-structure for neural dynamics
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, accepted - Reimer ICG, Staude B, Boucsein C, Rotter S
A new method to infer higher-order spike correlations from membrane potentials
Journal of Computational Neuroscience, published online, 2013 - Yim M-Y, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Impact of intrinsic biophysical diversity on the activity of spiking neurons
Physical Review E, 87: 032710, 2013 - Pernice V, Rotter S
Reconstruction of sparse connectivity in neural networks from spike train covariances
Journal of Statistical Mechanics, P03008, 2013
2012
- Ambard M, Rotter S
Support vector machine using synaptic kernels for spike pattern classification
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 6: 78, 2012
- Deger M, Helias M, Rotter S, Diesmann M
Spike-timing dependence of structural plasticity explains cooperative synapse formation in the neocortex
PLoS Computational Biology 8(9): e1002689, 2012
- Cardanobile S, Pernice V, Deger M, Rotter S
Inferring general relations between network characteristics from specific network ensembles
PLoS ONE 7(6): e37911, 2012 - Reimer I, Staude B, Ehm W, Rotter S
Modeling and analyzing higher-order correlations in non-Poissonian spike trains
Journal of Neuroscience Methods 208: 18–33, 2012 - Pernice V, Staude B, Cardanobile S, Rotter S
Recurrent interactions in spiking networks with arbitrary topology
Physical Review E 85: 031916, 2012
2011
- Deger M, Helias M, Boucsein C, Rotter S
Statistical properties of superimposed stationary spike trains
Journal of Computational Neuroscience 32(3): 443-463, 2012; Epub ahead of print, 2011 - Cardanobile S, Rotter S
Emergent properties of interacting populations of spiking neurons
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 5: 59, 2011 - Kumar A, Cardanobile S, Rotter S, Aertsen A
The role of inhibition in generating and controlling Parkinson’s disease oscillations in the basal ganglia
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 5: 86, 2011 - Voges N, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Structural models of cortical networks with long-range connectivity
Mathematical Problems in Engineering 484812, 2011 - Braun DA, Aertsen A, Paz R, Vaadia E, Rotter S, Mehring C
Online adaptation and over-trial learning in macaque visuomotor control
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 5: 27, 2011 - Pernice V, Staude B, Cardanobile S, Rotter S
How Structure Determines Correlations in Neuronal Networks
PLoS Computational Biology 7(5): e1002059, 2011 - Helias M, Deger M, Rotter S, Diesmann M
Finite post synaptic potentials cause a fast neuronal response
Focused Review, Frontiers in Neuroscience 5: 19, 2011
2010
- Helias M, Deger M, Rotter S, Diesmann M
Instantaneous non-linear processing by pulse-coupled threshold units
PLoS Computational Biology 6(9): e10000929, 2010 - Kumar A, Rotter S, Aertsen A
Spiking activity propagation in neuronal networks - Reconciling different perspectives on neural coding
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(9): 615-627, 2010 - Deger M, Helias M, Cardanobile S, Atay F, Rotter S
Nonequilibrium dynamics of stochastic point processes with refractoriness
Physical Review E 82(2): 021129, 2010 - Voges N, Schüz A, Aertsen A, Rotter S
A modeler's view on the spatial structure of intrinsic horizontal connectivity in the neocortex
Progress in Neurobiology 92(3): 277-292, 2010 - Staude B, Grün S, Rotter S
Higher-order correlations in non-stationary parallel spike trains: statistical modeling and inference
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 4: 16, 2010 - Jarvis S, Rotter S, Egert U
Extending stability through hierarchical clusters in Echo State Networks
Frontiers in Neuroinformatics 4: 11, 2010 - Cardanobile S, Rotter S
Multiplicatively interacting point processes and applications to neural modeling
Journal of Computational Neuroscience 28(2): 267-284, 2010
- Voges N, Guijarro C, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Models of cortical networks with long-range patchy projections
Journal of Computational Neuroscience 28(1): 137-154, 2010 - Helias M, Deger M, Diesmann M, Rotter S
Equilibrium and response properties of the integrate-and-fire neuron in discrete time
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 3: 29, 2010
2009
- Gürel T, Rotter S, Egert U
Functional identification of biological neural networks using reservoir adaptation for point processes
Journal of Computational Neuroscience 29(1-2): 279-299, 2010; Epub ahead of print, 2009 - Staude B, Rotter S, Grün S
CuBIC: cumulant based inference of higher-order correlations in massively parallel spike trains
Journal of Computational Neuroscience 29(1-2): 327-350, 2010; Epub ahead of print, 2009 - Grah G, Rotter S
Von Neuronen zu Netzwerken. Mathematische Gehirnmodelle
Biologie in unserer Zeit 39(6): 418-425, 2009
- Rickert J, Riehle A, Aertsen A, Rotter S, Nawrot MP
Dynamic encoding of movement direction in motor cortical neurons
The Journal of Neuroscience 29(44): 13870-13882, 2009 - Kriener B, Helias M, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Correlations in spiking neuronal networks with distance dependent connections
Journal of Computational Neuroscience 27(2): 177-200, 2009
2008
- Helias M, Rotter S, Gewaltig M-O, Diesmann M
Structural plasticity controlled by calcium based correlation detection
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 2: 7, 2008
- Atmanspacher H, Rotter S
Interpreting neurodynamics: concepts and facts
Cognitive Neurodynamics 2(4): 297-318, 2008 - Kumar A, Rotter S, Aertsen A
Conditions for propagating synchronous spiking and asynchronous firing rates in a cortical network model
The Journal of Neuroscience 28(20): 5268-5280, 2008 - Kriener B, Tetzlaff T, Aertsen A, Diesmann M, Rotter S
Correlations and population dynamics in cortical networks
Neural Computation 20: 2185-2226, 2008 - Staude B, Rotter S, Grün S
Can spike coordination be differentiated from rate covariation?
Neural Computation 20: 1973-1999, 2008 - Tetzlaff T, Rotter S, Stark E, Abeles M, Aertsen A, Diesmann M
Dependence of neuronal correlations on filter characteristics and marginal spike-train statistics
Neural Computation 20: 2133-2184, 2008 - Nawrot MP, Boucsein C, Rodriguez Molina V, Riehle A, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Measurement of variability dynamics in cortical spike trains
Journal of Neuroscience Methods 169: 374-390, 2008 - Kumar A, Schrader S, Aertsen A, Rotter S
The high-conductance state of cortical networks
Neural Computation 20(1): 1-43, 2008
2007
- Gürel T, Egert U, Kandler S, De Raedt L, Rotter S
Predicting spike activity in neuronal cultures
In: Si J, Sun R (eds), Proceedings of the IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, Orlando, FL, 2007
- Ehm W, Staude B, Rotter S
Decomposition of neuronal assembly activity via empirical de-Poissonization
Electronic Journal of Statistics 1: 473-495, 2007 - Gürel T, De Raedt L, Rotter S
Mining structure-activity relations in biological neural networks using NeuronRank
Hammer B, Hitzler P (eds), Perspectives of Neural-Symbolic Integration,
Springer-Series in Computational Intelligence, volume 77, chapter 3, 47-63, 2007 - Shin S-L, Rotter S, Aertsen A, De Schutter E
Stochastic description of complex and simple spike firing in cerebellar Purkinje cells
European Journal of Neuroscience 25(3): 785-794, 2007 - Nawrot MP, Boucsein C, Rodriguez Molina V, Aertsen A, Grün S, Rotter S
Serial interval statistics of spontaneous activity in cortical neurons
Neurocomputing 70: 1717-1722, 2007 - Voges N, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Statistical analysis of spatially embedded networks: From grid to random node positions
Neurocomputing 70: 1833-1837, 2007 - Gürel T, De Raedt L, Rotter S
Ranking the neurons for mining structure-activity relations in biological neural networks: NeuronRank
Neurocomputing 70: 1897-1901, 2007 - Kremkow J, Kumar A, Rotter S, Aertsen A
Emergence of population synchrony in a layered network model of the cat visual cortex
Neurocomputing 70: 2069-2073, 2007
2006 and earlier
- Rickert J, Cardoso de Oliveira S, Vaadia E, Aertsen A, Rotter S, Mehring C
Encoding of movement direction in different frequency ranges of motor cortical local field potentials
The Journal of Neuroscience 25(39): 8815-8824, 2005
- Boucsein C, Nawrot MP, Rotter S, Aertsen A, Heck D
Controlling synaptic input patterns in vitro by dynamic photo stimulation
Journal of Neurophysiology 94(4): 2948-2958, 2005 - Kuhn A, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Neuronal integration of synaptic input in the fluctuation-driven regime
The Journal of Neuroscience 24(10): 2345-2356, 2004 - Mehring C, Rickert J, Vaadia E, Cardoso de Oliveira S, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Inference of hand movements from local field potentials in monkey motor cortex
Nature Neuroscience 6(12): 1253-1254, 2003
- Gütig R, Aharonov R, Rotter S, Sompolinsky H
Learning input correlations through nonlinear temporally asymmetric Hebbian plasticity
The Journal of Neuroscience 23(9): 3697-3714, 2003 - Nawrot MP, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Elimination of response latency variability in neuronal spike trains
Biological Cybernetics 88(5): 321-334, 2003 - Gütig R, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Analysis of higher-order neuronal interactions based on conditional inference
Biological Cybernetics 88(5): 352-359, 2003 - Mehring C, Rickert J, Cardoso de Oliveira S, Vaadia E, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Hints for a topographic map of tuning properties in primate motor cortex
1st International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering 28-31, 2003 - Kuhn A, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Higher-order statistics of input ensembles and the response of simple model neurons
Neural Computation 15(1): 67-101, 2003 - Egert U, Knott T, Schwarz C, Nawrot M, Brandt A, Rotter S, Diesmann M
MEA-Tools: an open source toolbox for the analysis of multi-electrode data with Matlab
Journal of Neuroscience Methods 117(1): 33-42, 2002
- Kuhn A, Rotter S, Aertsen A
Correlated input spike trains and their effects on the response of the leaky integrate-and-fire neuron
Neurocomputing 44-46: 121-126, 2002 - Gütig R, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Statistical significance of coincident spikes: Count-based versus rate-based statistics
Neural Computation 14(1): 121-153, 2002 - Diesmann M, Gewaltig M-O, Rotter S, Aertsen A
State space analysis of synchronous spiking in cortical networks
Neurocomputing 38-40: 565-571, 2001
- Nawrot M, Aertsen A, Rotter S
Single-trial estimation of neuronal firing rates - From single neuron spike trains to population activity
Journal of Neuroscience Methods 94(1): 81-92, 1999
- Rotter S, Diesmann M
Exact digital simulation of time-invariant linear systems with applications to neuronal modeling
Biological Cybernetics 81(5/6): 381-402, 1999 - Reimann S, Fuster JM, Gierer A, Mayer-Kress G, Neumann T, Roelfsema P, Rotter S, Schöner G, Stephan A, Vaadia E, Walter H
Emergent properties of natural and artificial systems
Zeitschrift für Naturforschung 53c(7/8): 770-774, 1998 - Rotter S, Aertsen A
Accurate spike synchronization in cortex
Zeitschrift für Naturforschung 53c(7/8): 686-690, 1998 - Baier H, Rotter S, Korsching S
Connectional topography in the zebrafish olfactory system: Random positions but regular spacing of sensory neurons projecting to an individual glomerulus
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 91: 11646-11650, 1994 - Aertsen A, Vaadia E, Abeles M, Ahissar E, Bergman H, Karmon B, Lavner Y, Margalit E, Nelken I, Rotter S
Dynamics of coherence in cortical neural activity: Experimental observations and functional interpretations
International Journal of Neural Systems (Suppl.) 105-114, 1992 - Aertsen A, Vaadia E, Abeles M, Ahissar E, Bergman H, Karmon B, Lavner Y, Margalit E, Nelken I, Rotter S
Neural interactions in the frontal cortex of a behaving monkey: Signs of dependence on stimulus context and behavioral state
Journal für Hirnforschung 32: 735-743, 1991
Books
- Grün S, Rotter S (eds)
Analysis of Parallel Spike Trains
Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience, Volume 7, 2010
ISBN 978-1-4419-5674-3 - Rotter S
Wechselwirkende stochastische Punktprozesse als Modell für neuronale Aktivität in Neocortex der Säugetiere
Reihe Physik, Bd. 21
Verlag Harri Deutsch, Thun, Frankfurt am Main, 1994
ISBN 3-8171-1375-7
Book Chapters, Editorials, etc.
- Jarvis S, Rotter S, Egert U
Increased robustness and intermittent dynamics in structured Reservoir Networks with feedback
European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks, Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning, ESANN 2011 proceedings, ISBN 978-2-87419-044-5 - Atmanspacher H, Rotter S
On determinacy or its absence in the brain
In: Swinburne R (ed)
Free Will and Modern Science, 84-101
Oxford University Press, 2011 - Staude B, Grün S, Rotter S
Higher-order correlations and cumulants
In: Grün S, Rotter S (eds)
Analysis of Parallel Spike Trains
Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience, Volume 7, 2010 - Cardanobile S, Rotter S
Simulation of stochastic point processes with defined properties
In: Grün S, Rotter S (eds)
Analysis of Parallel Spike Trains
Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience, Volume 7, 2010 - Fukai T, Ikegaya Y, Rotter S
Analysis and modeling of massively parallel neural signals
Neural Networks, Special Issue 23(6): 667-668, 2010 - Aertsen A, Diesmann M, Gewaltig M-O, Grün S, Rotter S
Neural Dynamics in Cortical Networks – Precision of Joint-Spiking Events
In: Complexity in Biological Information Processing, 193-207
Wiley, Chichester, 2001 - Rotter S, Aertsen A
Cortical Dynamics – Experiments and Models
Lehnertz K, Arnhold J, Grassberger P, Elger CE (eds) Chaos in Brain? 3-12
World Scientific, Singapore, 2000 - Grün S, Rotter S
Concepts of Neuronal Cooperativity in the Cortex
In: Elsner N, Eysel U (eds) From Molecular Neurobiology to Clinical Neuroscience, 358-363
Thieme, Stuttgart, 1999 - Aertsen A, Diesman M, Gewaltig M-O, Heck D, Rotter S
Dynamische Organisation von Hirnaktivität – Mechanismen und Funktion
In: Experimentelle und theoretische Hirnforschung: II. Sinneswahrnehmung, sensomotorische Koordination, neuronale Informationsverarbeitung
Freiburger Universitätsblätter 135: 93-115
Rombach, Freiburg, 1997 - Rotter S
Biophysical Aspects of Cortical Networks
In: Torre V, Conti F (eds) Proceedings of the NATO ASI: Neurobiology – Ionic Channels, Neurons, and the Brain, 355-369
Plenum, New York, 1996 - Rotter S, Heck D, Aertsen A
Spatio-temporal patterns of activity in cortical networks
In: Bower JM (ed) Computational Neuroscience – Trends in Research 1995, 261-266
Academic Press, San Diego, 1996 - Rotter S, Aertsen A
A point process approach to cortical networks
In: Kappen B, Gielen S (eds) Neural Networks: Artificial Intelligence and Industrial Applications, 59-62
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1995 - Rotter S, Aertsen A, Vaadia E
Neuronal interaction in the cortex – quantitative characterization by cross-interval statistics
In: Aertsen A (ed) Brain Theory: Spatio-Temporal Aspects of Brain Function, 231-239
Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1993 - Heck D, Rotter S, Aertsen A
Spike generation in cortical neurons: Probabilistic threshold function shows intrinsic and long-lasting dynamics
In: Aertsen A (ed) Brain Theory: Spatio-Temporal Aspects of Brain Function, 241-249
Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1993 - Hellwig B, Rotter S
On the relation between cyto- and myeloarchitectonics in the human cerebral cortex
In: Aertsen A (ed) Brain Theory: Spatio-Temporal Aspects of Brain Function, 281-289
Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1993
Patents
- Aertsen A, Boucsein C, Heck D, Nawrot M, Rotter S
Dynamic Simultaneous Multisite Photostimulation (DSMP)
Patent No. ZEE20050629 with German Patent and Trade Mark Office (GPTO)
Patent No. 05.019878.7 with European Patent Office (EPO)