Claus C. Hilgetag

Claus-Christian Hilgetag (born 1969 in Berlin) is a German neuroscientist whose research focuses on computational neuroscience, connectomics, and network neuroscience. His work has contributed to the emergence of network neuroscience as an interdisciplinary field integrating graph theory, neuroanatomy, and computational modelling. He is a Professor and Director of the Institute of Computational Neuroscience at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

His research investigates the organization, development, and function of brain networks, particularly the structural architecture of the cerebral connectome. Much of his research has examined the anatomical wiring of the primate cerebral cortex, in general, and visual pathways, in particular, using large-scale connectivity datasets. His research has contributed to the understanding of cortical organization, network topology, and the principles governing brain connectivity. He has also contributed to discussions of influential concepts in network neuroscience, including small-world organization and cortical hierarchy, proposing more nuanced and biologically grounded interpretations of these concepts.

Early life and education

Claus C. Hilgetag studied biophysics at Humboldt University of Berlin, where he earned a Diplom (equivalent to a master's degree) in 1994. His early work contributed to the development of elementary flux mode analysis for biochemical reaction systems.

Career and research

Following his PhD, Hilgetag was a postdoctoral fellow at Boston University as a Wellcome Trust International Fellow, where his research included the study of paradoxical lesion effects using reversible brain perturbation in the human brain. Inspired by the work of the neuroanatomist Helen Barbas of Boston University, he also began investigating relationships between laminar organization, cytoarchitecture, and cortical connectivity profiles. Since then, Hilgetag collaborated extensively with Helen Barbas on how cortical cytoarchitecture shapes long-range connections in the primate brain. Their work contributed to the "architectonic type principle," which holds that features of cortico-cortical connections, such as the layers in which axons originate and terminate, vary systematically with the laminar structure of the areas involved. They also supported the hypothesis that mechanical tension from corticocortical fiber tracts contributes to cortical folding patterns. Their collaboration culminated in a synthesis paper on connection principles of the primate visual connectome.

In 2001, he joined International University Bremen, later renamed Jacobs University Bremen and now Constructor University, where he established a research group in computational neuroscience. His research there examined how anatomical constraints shape the organization and efficiency of neural systems and the relationship between anatomical and topological organization.

Since 2011, he has been a Professor at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, where he directs the Institute of Computational Neuroscience. His research has examined the organization, development, and function of large-scale brain networks, including hierarchical organization, structure–function relationships, and computational models of neural dynamics.

Scientific impact

Hilgetag's research has contributed to the study of connectomics and network neuroscience, particularly in the areas of cortical architecture, hierarchical organization, and the relationship between anatomical structure and functional dynamics.

He is a principal investigator and steering committee member of the German Research Foundation (DFG) Priority Programme Computational Connectomics (SPP 2041).

He is also affiliated with the Bernstein Network for Computational Neuroscience through the Bernstein Node Hamburg.

Honors

Hilgetag was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg in 2015.

Selected publications