Professor of Animal Physiology
Contact:
Animal Physiology
RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau
Paul-Ehrlich-Straße 13, Room 568
67663 Kaiserslautern
Tel.: +49 (0)631-205-2424
Email: friauf.eckhard(at)rptu.de
Profile: Google Scholar
Curriculum Vitae:
since 2022: Senior Professor of Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Kaiserslautern
2017-2019: President of the German Neuroscience Society (Neurowissenschaftliche Gesellschaft)
2012-2019: Coordinator of the DFG Priority Programme Ultrafast and temporally precise information processing: normal and dysfunctional hearing
2012-2016: Member on the DFG Review Board 206 Neuroscience and Advisory Member on the Board 203 Zoology
2005: Award of the Rheinland-Pfalz Academy of Sciences
since 2004: W3 Professor of Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Kaiserslautern
2004: Offer of a C4 Professorship of Physiology, University of Frankfurt, (declined)
2000-2007: Member of the DFG Grants committee on Research Training Groups
1999-2004: C4 Professor of Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Kaiserslautern
1997-1999: Founder and leader of the DFG Graduate Research School "Neuronal Plasticity: Molecules, Structures, Functions"
1995-1999: C3 Professor of Physiology/Neurobiology, University of Frankfurt/Main
1994: Habilitation (vena legendi) for Animal Physiology, Univ. Tübingen
1987-1989: Postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University Medical School, California, USA with Prof. Carla Shatz
1986: Attempto Award of the University of Tübingen
1983-1987: PhD at the University of Tübingen with Prof. Hans-Ulrich Schnitzler
1982-1983: Predoctoral fellow at New York University Medical School, New York, USA with Profs. Robert Baker and Rodolfo Llinás
1976-1982: Diploma in Biology, University of Marburg; Main areas: Zoology, Microbiology, Physics, Pharmacology.
Major Research Interests:
We are curious to understand how the brain works. Conceptional thinking and experimental work in our group is directed to fundamental research. We want to know how brain circuits are structurally and functionally organized. Our studies focus on the central auditory system of mammals, in particular excitatory and inhibitory connections between neurons in the brainstem. These connections (synapses) perform ultrafast with exquisite reliability and remarkable temporal precision. Some of them are illustrated in the above picture. We aim to understand the processes and mechanisms by which the exquisite precision and high fidelity of the hearing apparatuses are achieved. Our approaches include electrophysiological, histological, transcriptomic, and proteomic methods. Deafness-related effects on the development of the central auditory system are also a matter of our active research.