Professor Thomas Hildebrandt

SYNOPSIS OF CAREER / RESEARCH INTERESTS

Curriculum Vitae

Name                                     Univ.-Prof. Dr. Thomas Bernd Hildebrandt

Contact                                  Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research

Department Reproduction Management

Alfred-Kowalke-Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin

+49 30 5168 440

hildebrandt@izw-berlin.de

 

Education         

1986-1992                            Veterinary Medicine with honor, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

1987-1993                            Dr. med. vet. with summa cum laude, Freie Universität Berlin

1992-1997                            Board certification for Zoo, Wildlife and Game Medicine (Fachtierarzt)

 

Funding

2010 – 2018                          Total third-party funding:   1915,164.43 Euro (e.g. SAW, BMBF, DFG)

 

Professional Activities and Memberships

1996-2000                            Committee Member, American Institute for Ultrasound in Medicine

Since 1996                            Member, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ultraschall in der Medizin

Since 1998                            Head, Department Reproduction Management

Since 2008                            Member of the Royal College Veterinary Surgeons, UK

Since 2011                            Diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine

Since 2015                            Member, Deutscher Hochschulverband (DVG)

Since 2015                            W3-S-Chair for Wildlife Reproduction Medicine, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

1990-2018                            151 publications (peer reviewed), 23 book chapter, 48 plenary lectures

 

Honors and Recognitions

Since 2000                            Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution, USA

Since 2002                            Fellow of the Zoological Society of San Diego, USA

Since 2008                            Conservation Fellow, Zoological Society London, UK

Since 2008                            Scientific Associate, Taronga Conservation Society, AUS

Since 2008                            Best Research Presentation Established Investigator, ISCFR-2008, A Since 2012                                                                    Honorary Fellowship (HonFRCVS), UK

2012                                       Career Award: Species Conservation Research, ISCFR-2012, CDN

2012-2017                            Honorary Professorial Fellow, Zoology, University of Melbourne, AUS

2015                                       Conservation Legacy Award 2015, Pittsburg Zoo, USA

2017-2022                            Honorary Professorial Fellow, BioSciences, University of Melbourne

Since 2018                            Honorary membership Society of Fertility and Reproduction (SRF), UK

 

Ten key publications

[1]. Loi P, Galli C, Lazzari G, Matsukawa K, Fulka J Jr, Goeritz F, Hildebrandt Tb (2018): Development to term of sheep embryos reconstructed after inner cell mass/trophoblast exchange.  J Reprod Dev. 164: 187-191. doi: 10.1262/jrd.2017-109.

 

[2]. Skulachev VP, Holtze S, Vyssokikh MY, Bakeeva LE, Skulachev MV, Markov AV, Hildebrandt TB**, Sadovnichii VA** (2017): Neoteny, Prolongation of youth: From naked mole rats to “naked apes” (humans). Physiological Reviews  97: 699-720.  ** = shared senior authorship

 

[3]. Bens M, Sahm A, Groth M, Jahn N, Morhart M, Holtze S, Hildebrandt TB, Platzer M, Szafranski K (2016): FRAMA: from RNA-seq data to annotated mRNA assemblies. BMC Genomics (2016) 17: 54; doi 10.1186/s12864-015-2349-8

 

[4]. Saragusty J, Diecke S, Drukker M, Durrant B, Friedrich Ben-Nun I, Galli C, Goeritz F, Hayashi K, Hermes R, Holtze S, Johnson S, Lazzari G, Loi P, Loring JF, Okita K, Renfree MB, Seet S, Voracek T, Stejskal J, Ryder OA, Hildebrandt TB (2016): Rewinding the Process of Mammalian Extinction. Zoo Biology 35: 280–292.

 

[5]. Lueders I, Niemuller C, Rich P, Gray C, Hermes R, Goeritz F, Hildebrandt TB (2012): Gestating for 22 months: luteal development and pregnancy maintenance in elephants. Proc R Soc B 279: 3687-3696.

 

[6]. Saragusty J, Hermes R, Hofer H, Bouts T, Goeritz F, Hildebrandt TB (2012): Male pygmy hippopotamus influence offspring sex ratio. Nature Communication 2012 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1700

 

[7]. Hutchinson JR, Delmer C, Miller CE, Hildebrandt TB, Pitsillides AA, Boyde A (2011): From Flat Foot to Fat Foot: Structure, ontogeny, function, and evolution of Elephant “sixth toes”. Science 334: 1699-1703. doi: 10.1126/science.1211437.

 

[8]. Roellig K, Goeritz F, Fickel J, Hermes R, Hofer H, Hildebrandt TB (2010): Superconception in mammalian pregnancy can be detected and increases reproductive output per breeding season. Nature Communication 1-7, published 21.09.2010, doi:10.1038/ncomms1079

 

[9]. Hildebrandt TB, Drews B, Gaeth AP, Göritz F, Hermes R, Schmitt D, Gray C, Rich P, Streich WJ, Short RV, Renfree MB (2007): Fetal age determination and development in elephants. Proc R Soc B 274: 323-331.

 

[10]. Richman LK, Montali RJ, Garber RL, Kennedy MA, Lehnhardt J, Hildebrandt TB, Schmitt DL, Hardy D, Alcendor DJ, Hayward GS (1999): Novel endotheliotropic herpesviruses fatal for Asian and African elephants. Science 283: 1171-1176.

 

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Research Experience

1992                                       Primate research on assisted reproduction, Mauritius

1995                                       Development Artificial Insemination in elephants, National Zoo, USA

1995-1998                            Contraception research on wild elephants, Kruger National Park, RSA 1997-1998                                                                 Establishment of the ultrasonography in wildlife, research leader, IZW

2000-2002                            Movement ecology in wild elephants by satellite tracking, Tanzania

2002-2010                            Primate research, 10 visits, Kunming Institute Zoology, PR China

2003-2010                            Elephant research, 12 visits, Taronga Zoological Society, AUS

2002-2018                            Northern white rhino research on cellular technologies, Europe, Africa

2009-2018                            Sumatran rhino research on assisted reproduction, Sabah, Malaysia

2012-2015                            Ageing and reproduction research in naked mole-rats, IZW & FLI Jena

Since 2013                            Cell culture, focus artificial gametes, Berlin, San Diego, Fukuoka, JPN

 

VALUE OF SRF MEMBERSHIP

 

I appreciate especially the informal exchange of ideas during the SRF conferences operating as “think tanks” and the active involvement of students and young scientists in SRF operations.