Professor Dr Karl Zilles (✝︎)

Scientific Focus: Structure and function of the cerebral cortex in human, non-human primate, and rodent brains as well as is transgenic animal models of neurological and psychiatric diseases
Beside the cytoarchitecture, Karl Zilles is interested in the regional expression of transmitter receptors in in vivo and postmortem brain, the connectivity within and between brain regions, as well as the functional and molecular in vivo neuroimaging using MRI and PET.
Karl Zilles is distinguished for many important contributions to the neuroanatomy of the human cerebral cortex, the regional expression of neurotransmitter receptors as well as the functional and molecular imaging of the human brain in vivo. Most of these studies were performed at the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine of the Research Centre Jülich as well as in the C. & O. Vogt-Institute of Brain Research of the University Düsseldorf. He has been the director of both institutes from 1998-2012 and 1991-2012, respectively. Since 2012 he is JARA (Jülich-Aachen-Research-Alliance) Senior Professor At the department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics of the RWTH University Aachen and the Research Centre Jülich.
During this period, the institute in Jülich developed into a world-wide renowned institution equipped with unique imaging facilities for research on the living human brain. He made major contributions to the neuroanatomy of the human cerebral cortex in healthy and pathologically impaired conditions, neural mechanisms of perception, motion and cognition, and functional and molecular neuroimaging using MRI and PET to understand the mechanisms of neurological and psychiatric disorders. He is best known for his seminal work on cyto- and receptorarchtectonics of the human cerebral cortex (“Human Brain Mapping”).