"Large-Brain Neuroscience in Elephants"

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DFG-Leibniz Lecture 2025: Invitation

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While we have a detailed understanding of the cellular architecture of small animals like worms, flies and mice, our understanding of large brains is coarse. Prof. Brecht will present data on a systemic investigation of brains and of grasping behaviour in elephants. The analysis of sensory nerves suggests that elephants are extremely tactile animals. In elephants, trunk whisker length is lateralised as a result of heavily lateralised trunk behaviours. The elephant trunk tip appears to be represented by a large cortical three-dimensional trunk-tip model; this observation is reminiscent of the somatosensory cortical snout representation in pigs. The trunk musculature of elephants is breath-takingly complex and filigree. Trunk morphology, motor neuron organisation and grasping differs between African elephants (which pinch objects with their two trunk fingers) and Asian elephants (which have only one finger and wrap objects with their trunk). Prof. Brecht will also discuss the potential of novel X-ray technologies for large brain analysis.

Speaker

Professor Dr. Michael Brecht, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz prize recipient 2012, Professor for Systemic Neuroscience at the Humboldt University Berlin. His research group is active in the field of cellular and systems neuroscience with the following major areas: animal play; active touch and object recognition; social and sexual touch; cortical organisation; cellular basis of sensations and movement generation; hippocampal and parahippocampal activity linked to spatial navigation and elephant behaviour and neurobiology.

They work on the meaning of single neuron activity, cellular mechanisms of complex somatosensory-mediated behaviours, spatial representations and social representations in forebrain.

Further Information

• Prof. Dr. Michael Brecht – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prizewinner 2012(externer Link)
• Prof. Dr. Michael Brecht – Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin – Institute for Biology(externer Link)

Event Details

Date	Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Schedule	17:45-18:15 Registration with tea/coffee   18:15-18:30 Welcome talks by Bose Institute, German Consul General and the DFG and introduction of Prof. Brecht   18:30-19:30 Leibniz lecture by Prof. Michael Brecht, followed by Q&A   19:30 End of lecture / Closing remarks by Bose Institute
Venue	Auditorium of the Bose Institute(externer Link) Unified Academic Campus  EN 80, Sector V, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700091
Organisation	Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), Max Planck Society (MPG), Bose Intitute in collaboration with the German Consulate General Kolkata
Registration	Registration(externer Link)