Nikos K. Logothetis (; born 5 November 1950 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

. Logothetis studies

visual perception Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

and

object recognition Object recognition – technology in the field of computer vision for finding and identifying objects in an image or video sequence. Humans recognize a multitude of objects in images with little effort, despite the fact that the image of the ...

; he is well-known for his work demonstrating that BOLD fMRI data is related to neuronal activity. Logothetis directed the department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes at the

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics is located in Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of 80 institutes in the Max Planck Society (Max Planck Gesellschaft). It was founded in 1968. The institute is studying signal a ...

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

from 1996 to 2020. He will co-direct the International Center for Primate Brain Research in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

beginning in late 2020 or early 2021.

Education and career

Logothetis received BS degrees in music and mathematics from the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

, and biology from the

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki ( AUTh; ), often called the University of Thessaloniki, is the second oldest tertiary education institution in Greece. Named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira, about east of Thessa ...

. He completed his doctoral work at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

with

Ernst Pöppel Ernst Pöppel (born 29 April 1940) is a German psychologist and neuroscientist. He is the father of Dr. David Poeppel. Education and research Pöppel was born in Schwessin, Farther Pomerania. He studied psychology and biology in Freiburg an ...

and received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in human neurobiology in 1985. Logothetis then worked as a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist at the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences before joining the faculty at

Baylor College of Medicine The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been se ...

in 1990. Logothetis moved to direct the

in 1996. Logothetis has held adjunct professorships at multiple institutions, including the

Salk Institute for Biological Studies The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a scientific research institute in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. The independent, non-profit institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine; among th ...

since 1992 and Baylor College of Medicine since 1995. He is a member of the Editorial Board for ''

Current Biology ''Current Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The journal includes research artic ...

''. Logothetis is one of the 2003 winners of the

Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine Established in 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prizes are funded by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation, ''Fondation Louis-Jeantet'' and awarded each year to experienced researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of biomedical research in one ...

Research

According to Logothetis, in order to understand a system, a description of it is necessary at all levels. As a result, intracortical cell recording and also modeling and

imaging Imaging is the representation or reproduction of an object's form; especially a visual representation (i.e., the formation of an image). Imaging technology is the application of materials and methods to create, preserve, or duplicate images. ...

is conducted at all levels in his department. Therefore, in addition to

functional magnetic resonance imaging Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...

, 'in vivo'

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectro ...

is also used, and the working group is researching smart contrast agents (SCA) in order to make functional imaging useful for effects other than

haemodynamic response In hemodynamics, haemodynamics, the body must respond to physical activities, external temperature, and other factors by homeostasis, homeostatically adjusting its blood flow to deliver nutrients such as oxygen and glucose to stressed tissue (biol ...

. Logothetis has made significant discoveries, such as finding out that the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) response is connected to brain activity at a neuronal level. These findings are essential for correct interpretation of measurements with

(fMRI).

Animal rights controversy

In 2014, a German television station aired footage recorded in Logothetis's lab by an undercover representative of the German Animal Welfare Federation documenting violence and harm to animals that might attain the legal definition of a regulation violation for

primates Primates is an order of mammals, which is further divided into the strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and lorisids; and the haplorhines, which include tarsiers and simians ( monkeys and apes). Primates arose 74–63 ...

. Logothetis announced in response that he would no longer work with non-human primates in 2015 due to lack of institutional support and protection for his research program.

Police raid A police raid is an unexpected visit by police or other law enforcement officers, which aims to use the element of surprise to seize Evidence (law), evidence or arrest suspects believed to be likely to Tampering with evidence, hide evidence, res ...

s and investigations at this time did not find evidence of animal regulation violations. Formal charges were brought against Logothetis and two staff members in August 2017 for allegedly delaying euthanasia to sick animals. On 20 February 2018, the Tübingen district court issued all three scientists a "penalty order," consisting of a fine and a sentence that would be automatically transformed into a conviction, which Logothetis immediately appealed. Following the order's announcement, the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

(MPS) removed Logothetis's animal research responsibilities and right to conduct animal experiments. Logothetis garnered significant support from members of the scientific community who criticized the MPS's decision to impose sanctions on Logothetis before a verdict had been reached regarding the alleged misconduct. The

Society for Neuroscience The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is a professional society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., for basic scientists and physicians around the world whose research is focused on the study of the brain and nervous system. It is especially well k ...

(SfN) and

Federation of European Neuroscience Societies The Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) is a European federation of scientific societies for basic scientists and physicians whose research is focused on the brain and nervous system (i.e., neuroscience). History The federatio ...

(FENS) issued a joint statement in his support, followed by the

International Brain Research Organization The International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) is the global federation of neuroscience organizations that aims to promote and support neuroscience around the world. The organization accomplishes this through training, teaching, collaborativ ...

. The specific charges Logothetis appealed were dismissed on 19 December 2018. Subsequently, the MPS restored Logothetis's duties at the Institute for Biological Cybernetics. Influenced by continued skepticism and lack of support for animal research in Germany, Logothetis announced in 2020 that he would move his department to the International Center for Primate Brain Research in

and co-direct the center with Chinese neuroscientist

Mu-ming Poo Mu-ming Poo (; born October 31, 1948) is a Chinese neuroscientist. He is the Paul Licht Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley and the Founding Director of the Shanghai-based Institute of Neuroscience (ION) ...

by late 2020 or early 2021.

Publications

* * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Logothetis, Nikos 1950 births Living people Greek neuroscientists Cognitive scientists Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Aristotle University of Thessaloniki alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Baylor College of Medicine faculty Max Planck Institute directors Massachusetts Institute of Technology people Max Planck Society people Constantinopolitan Greeks Academics from Istanbul Scientists from Istanbul