Nikos Logothetis

Nikos K. Logothetis (born November 5, 1950 in Istanbul , Turkey ) is a German biologist and neuroscientist of Greek origin.

Live and act

In his youth Logothetis completed a seven-year course at the Athens Conservatory of Music and was a member of the music band PELOMA. The name is derived from the first letters of the surname of the band's founders (Lo stands for Logothetis). In 1977 Logothetis decided to pursue a scientific career and first studied mathematics in Athens and in 1980 biology in Thessaloniki. Five years later he did his PhD in biology with Ernst Pöppel in Munich and stayed at Baylor College of Medicine until 1996 . Logothetis has been director of the Physiology of Cognitive Processes department at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen since 1996 . His main research interests are the investigation of the neural mechanisms of visual perception .

According to Logothetis' belief, a description of a system is necessary on all levels in order to understand a system, so that in his department cell recordings within the cerebral cortex are carried out in addition to modeling and imaging on all levels. So, in addition to functional magnetic resonance imaging and in vivo spectroscopy operated and the group is studying intelligent Kontrastagentien ( smart contrast agents (SCA)) to the functional imaging for other effects than the hemodynamic response to harness.

Logothetis made important discoveries about the connection of the BOLD contrast (BOLD: blood oxygenation level dependent) with the activity of the brain at the neuronal level. These findings are essential for a correct interpretation of the measurements with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

In 2020 he received a call to Shanghai, where his own research laboratory will be set up. He justified the move to China, among other things, with the fact that his research in Germany would be severely hindered after a report by Stern TV had damaged his reputation. It reported about experiments on monkeys in his laboratory, which allegedly violate animal welfare. In 2018, criminal proceedings against Logothetis and its employees were discontinued in exchange for a monetary contribution .

Awards and memberships

• 1999: Golden Brain Award
• 2003: Louis Jeantet Prize
• 2004: Zülch Prize
• 2005: Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 2007: Neuronal Plasticity Prize
• 2008: Admission to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2008: W. Alden Spencer Award
• 2009: Admission to the National Academy of Sciences
• 2016: Honored from the Greek Academy of Sciences
• 2019: Honorary doctorate from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Publications

• with David L. Sheinberg: Visual object recognition. In: Annual Review of Neuroscience. Vol. 19, 1996, pp. 577-621, doi : 10.1146 / annurev.ne.19.030196.003045 .
• with Randolph Blake: Visual competition. In: Nature Reviews Neuroscience . Vol. 3, 2001, pp. 13-21, doi : 10.1038 / nrn701 .
• with Jon Pauls, Mark Augath, Torsten Trinath, Axel Oeltermann: Neurophysiological investigation of the basis of the fMRI signal. In: Nature . Vol. 412, No. 6843, 2001, pp. 150-157, doi : 10.1038 / 35084005 .
• The neural basis of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging signal. In: Proceedings of the Royal Society . Series B: Biological Sciences. Vol. 357, No. 1424, 2002, pp. 1003-1037, JSTOR 3066744 .
• The underpinnings of the BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging signal. In: Journal of Neuroscience . Vol. 23, No. 10, 2003, pp. 3963-3971, doi : 10.1523 / JNEUROSCI.23-10-03963.2003 .
• with Josef Pfeuffer: On the nature of the BOLD fMRI contrast mechanism. In: Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Vol. 22, No. 10, 2004, pp. 1517-1531, doi : 10.1016 / j.mri.2004.10.018 .
• with Brian A. Wandell: Interpreting the BOLD signal. In: Annual Review of Physiology . Vol. 66, 2004, pp. 735-769, doi : 10.1146 / annurev.physiol.66.082602.092845 .

Web links

• MPI for Biological Cybernetics

Individual evidence

1. ^ Profile at the Max Planck Society
2. ↑ Honored Louis Jeantet Prize for two Max Planck Scientists ( Memento of the original from January 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: MEDICA . January 15, 2003. 
3. ↑ Νίκος Λογοθέτης: εξερευνητής της σκέψης (Greek)
4. ↑ Escape from sham morality. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 17, 2020, accessed January 19, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Julia Merlot, DER SPIEGEL: Neuroscientist Nikos Logothetis: "In order to become a normal person again, I have no choice but to leave Tübingen" - DER SPIEGEL - Wissenschaft. Retrieved January 27, 2020 . 
6. ^ Proceedings against Tübingen brain researchers discontinued , Deutschlandfunk, December 21, 2018
7. ↑ Member entry of Nikos Logothetis (with picture) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on July 16, 2016.
8. ↑ Tübingen brain researcher receives the highest Greek award ( Memento of the original from June 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Max Planck Society, March 29, 2016. 
9. ↑ Special honor for neuroscientists from Tübingen. In: mpg.de. Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics , May 8, 2019, accessed on May 21, 2019 .