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BrainBody
1-3 October 2025
 
HomeProgramSpeakersMichael Brecht

Michael Brecht

Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

Website

Title

Brain representations of whiskers and genitals

Biosketch

Since 2017 : Spokesperson, Interdisciplinary Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin
2016-2018 : Director, Institute of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2008-2016 : Coordinator, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (BCCN), Berlin
Since 2007 : Member, board of directors, NeuroCure – Cluster of Excellence, Berlin
Since 2006 : Full professor (W3), Animal Physiology/Systems Neurobiology and Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2004-2005 : Assistant professor, Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus Medical College, Rotterdam, NL
2004 : Venia legendi (Habilitation), Universität Tübingen
1999-2004 : Research group leader, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg
1998-1999 : Postdoctoral fellow, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt
1995-1998 : PhD thesis, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt
1994 : Diploma thesis, Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco, US; Universität Tübingen
1988-1994 : Studies in Biochemistry and Biology, Universität Tübingen

Research fields:
Our group is active in the field of cellular and systems neuroscience with the following major areas:

  • Social touch, active touch and object recognition
  • Ticklishness and Play
  • Cortical organization
  • Cellular basis of sensations and movement generation
  • Elephant behavior and neurobiology

Activities in the scientific community, honors, awards

Since 2020 : Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
2018 : ERC Synergy Grant ‘BrainPlay’
Since 2016 : Member, board of directors, Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin / Jury member, Berliner Wissenschaftspreis
2016-2018 : Member of the Faculty Council, Faculty for Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2014-2019 : Principal investigator, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin
Since 2012 : Reviewing board member, European Research Council (ERC)
2012 : Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, German Research Foundation (DFG)
2008 : Advanced Investigator Grant, European Research Council (ERC) / Grant for major instrumentation (in vivo two-photon microscope), German
Research Foundation (DFG)
2004 : Vidi Young Investigator Grant, The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific
Research (NOW) / Long-Term Fellowship, Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)

Selected publications
Kaufmann, L. V., Schneeweiß, U., Maier, E., Hildebrandt, T., and Michael Brecht (2022). Elephant facial motor control. Science Advances, in press.
Clemens AM, Brecht M (2021) Neural representations of kinship. Curr Opin Neurobiol, 68:116-123. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2021.02.007. Epub 2021 Apr 10. PMID: 33845346.
Clemens AM, Wang H, & Brecht M (2020) The lateral septum mediates kinship behavior in the rat. Nature communications, 11(1), 1-11.
Reinhold AS, Sanguinetti-Scheck JI, Hartmann K, & Brecht M (2019) Behavioral and neural correlates of hide-and-seek in rats. Science, 365(6458), 1180-1183.
Schmidt H, Gour A, Straehle J, Boergens KM, Brecht M, Helmstaedter M. Axonal synapse sorting in medial entorhinal cortex. Nature 2017; 549:469-475
Ishiyama S, Brecht M. Neural correlates of ticklishness in the rat somatosensory cortex. Science 2016; 354:757-760
Lenschow C, Brecht M. Barrel cortex membrane potential dynamics in social touch. Neuron 2015; 85:718-725
Tang Q, Burgalossi A, Ebbesen CL, Ray S, Naumann R, Schmidt H, Spicher D, Brecht M. Pyramidal and stellate cell specificity of grid and border representations in layer 2 of medial entorhinal cortex. Neuron 2014; 84:1191-1197
Ray S, Naumann R, Burgalossi A, Tang Q, Schmidt H, Brecht M. Grid-layout and theta-modulation of layer 2 pyramidal neurons in medial entorhinal cortex. Science 2014; 343:891-896
Doron G, von Heimendahl M, Schlattmann P, Houweling AR, Brecht M. Spiking irregularity and frequency modulate the behavioral report of single-neuron stimulation. Neuron 2014; 81:653-663
Burgalossi A, Herfst L, von Heimendahl M, Forste H, Haskic K, Schmidt M, Brecht M. Microcircuits of functionally identified neurons in the rat medial entorhinal cortex. Neuron 2011; 70:773-786
Epsztein J, Lee AK, Chorev E, Brecht M. Impact of spikelets on hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell activity during spatial exploration. Science 2010; 327:474-477