Andreas Kreiter

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Andreas Kurt Kreiter (* 1963 ) is a German neurobiologist . He is professor of zoophysiology in the theoretical neurobiology group at the University of Bremen .

Life

Andreas Kreiter studied neurobiology in Tübingen . As a qualified biologist, he then moved to the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt , where he did his doctorate. Since 1997 he has been researching macaque monkeys at the Institute for Cognitive Science in Bremen . In 1997, numerous professors at Bremen University signed a petition against Kreiter's research project . In addition, students protested massively against Kreiter's monkey experiments.

Research and Teaching

With the help of basic research on primates, Kreiter wants to create the possibility of better diagnosing and treating diseases such as Alzheimer's , schizophrenia and epilepsy .

Kreiter researches neuronal coding and the elucidation of the neuronal mechanisms of higher cognitive brain functions. He deals with the characteristics of the fine-time structure of neural activities on the level of individual cells and small cell clusters as well as on the level of the local field potential. He also researches the effect of attention , memory and goal-oriented behavior on the activity of neurons in the striary and extrastriary visual cortex . With reference to human behavior, Kreiter also examines the principles of attachment processes , paying particular attention to the underlying neuronal processes.

His research is financed by various third-party funds from the German Research Foundation and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research . In Faculty 02 at the University of Bremen, he mainly teaches animal physiology and human biology in the biology courses (B.Sc., M.Sc.) .

Controversy about experiments on macaques in Bremen

Kreiter and his family were threatened in some cases massively even before he began research in Bremen, opponents of animal experiments called for targeted telephone terrorism and violence, and designated laboratories were vandalized. The family was temporarily placed under police protection, and Kreiter's research was moved to a secure barracks on the university grounds. In Kreiter's experiments, monkeys were fixed in an apparatus for several hours a day and used to solve tasks and the like. a. rewarded by giving water. Animal protection and animal rights associations protest against what they consider to be cruel and superfluous experiments. The examining veterinarian, who examined the monkeys monthly without prior notice, found, however, that the animals were in good condition, that the colony made a “completely undisturbed impression” and that the animals were doing “just as well if not compared to their conspecifics in zoos better". An international scientific commission convened by the Bremen Senate expressly praised Kreiter's work and recommended that the experiments be continued. The commission, which also included a biologist from the German Animal Welfare Association , came to the conclusion that Kreiter's research approach has an international profile and provides fundamental insights into cognitive performance such as perception, attention and memory. The care and keeping of the laboratory animals is exemplary. However, the Bremen health authority refused to extend the approval for the monkey experiments in 2008. The basis for this was the expertise of a Berlin junior professor who never visited Kreiter's laboratory.

A legal dispute over the admissibility and appropriateness of the experiments and Kreiter's work followed for years. After weighing up what the judges of the Bremen Higher Administrative Court considered to be a moderate burden with the scientific benefit, the experiments were approved after a ruling by the Higher Administrative Court in 2012. This decision was confirmed by the Federal Administrative Court on February 3, 2014 , the court justified that “the stress on the test animals was ethically justifiable in view of the high scientific importance of the test project”.

In response to the approval and the continuation of the tests, full-page advertisements with the headline "Kreiter macht eiskalt weiter" appeared in major German daily newspapers (including Zeit, FAZ, Tagesspiegel) on April 16, 2014, which were placed by the association "Tierversuchsgegner Bundes Republik Deutschland" . In the text introduced by Herbert Stiller with the quote "Animal experimenters are beings of a special kind - they shouldn't be called people lightly" , Kreiter u. a. awarded the "reputation of a cruel animal" and criticized his research as unscientific and unnecessary. The Bremen University Rector Bernd Scholz-Reiter stated in an open letter that it was a matter of continuing necessary research that was checked by a judge, and that Kreiter and his research were being made with a plethora of untrue claims that he was emphatically protecting himself against these allegations. With the attacks on Kreiter's human dignity, the limit of freedom of expression was exceeded.

The German Animal Welfare Association has lodged a complaint with the European Union about the German Animal Welfare Act because of the decision of the Federal Administrative Court in the Kreiter case.

Publications (selection)

  • Drebitz, E., Rausch, LP, Kreiter, AK (2020). A novel approach for removing micro-stimulation artifacts and reconstruction of broad-band neuronal signals. Journal of Neuroscience Methods , 332 , 108549.
  • Fischer, B., Schander, A., Kreiter, AK, Lang, W., & Wegener, D. (2019). Visual epidural field potentials possess high functional specificity in single trials. Journal of neurophysiology , 122 (4), 1634-1648
  • Drebitz, E., Schledde, B., Kreiter, AK, & Wegener, D. (2019). Optimizing the yield of multi-unit activity by including the entire spiking activity. Frontiers in neuroscience , 13 , 83.
  • Drebitz, E., Haag, M., Grothe, I., Mandon, S., & Kreiter, AK (2018). Attention configures synchronization within local neuronal networks for processing of the behaviorally relevant stimulus. Frontiers in neural circuits , 12 , 71.
  • Grothe, I., Rotermund, D., Neitzel, SD, Mandon, S., Ernst, UA, Kreiter, AK, & Pawelzik, KR (2018). Attention selectively gates afferent signal transmission to area V4. Journal of Neuroscience , 38 (14), 3441-3452.
  • Schledde, B., Galashan, FO, Przybyla, M., Kreiter, AK, & Wegener, D. (2017). Task-specific, dimension-based attentional shaping of motion processing in monkey area MT. Journal of neurophysiology , 118 (3), 1542-1555.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German University Association, Research & Teaching, 7/1998, pp. 362–364 ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 2.8 MB)
  2. ↑ "Kill Dr. Kreiter " . Focus No. 46, November 10, 1997
  3. ↑ a b The suffering of the monkeys . November 20, 2008.
  4. ↑ a b Between provincial farce and research scandal . FAZ, November 24, 2008.
  5. ^ Judgment of the OVG Bremen, dated December 11, 2012, Az. 1 A 180/10; 1 A 367/10
  6. ^ Judgment of the OVG Bremen, dated December 11, 2012, Az. 1 A 180/10; 1 A 367/10 DVBl 2013, 669; DÖV 2013, 492 see also compassion for animals does not solve the dilemma, December 12, 2012
  7. ↑ Press release of the BVerwG No. 11/2014 of February 3, 2014 on the decision under file number 3 B 29.13 ; Kreiter's brain research on monkeys is permitted , Die Zeit Online from February 3, 2014.
  8. ↑ University of Bremen criticizes advertising campaign against brain researcher Andreas Kreiter . Science Information Service, April 22, 2014.
  9. ↑ Legal dispute about the monkey experiments in Bremen Deutscher Tierschutzbund e. V.
personal data
SURNAME Kreiter, Andreas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kreiter, Andreas Kurt (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German neurobiologist
DATE OF BIRTH 1963