Iulian Ilieş, Dr.
Research Associate

Academic Education:

B.Sc., Mathematics and Integrated Social and Cognitive Psychology (Combined Program), International University Bremen, Germany (2006)

M.Sc., Mathematics, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany (2007)

Dr., Statistics, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany (2010)

Professional Appointments:

Research Associate, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany (2008-2011)

Research Associate, Northeastern University, Boston, MA (2011-)

Research Interests:

My research focuses primarily on exploratory data analysis and mathematical modeling, specifically on the development and application of methods for uncovering emerging patterns and their underlying mechanisms in complex empirical data.

One of the most interesting applications of mathematical and statistical theory is in the field of biology. My current projects explore the dynamics of the injury response in the spinal cord of the brown ghost knifefish (Apteronotus leptorhynchus) at both cell population level, using systems of partial differential equations, and protein level, using data mining techniques on expression data. Previous work using the same model system includes demonstrating the non-randomness of the chirping behavior exhibited during fish interactions, quantifying and visualizing the spatial distribution of various cell markers within specific regions of interest of the central nervous system, as well as examining the overall growth patterns.

Before joining the group of Günther Zupanc, I worked on cluster analysis methods for large or high dimensional data sets, and their applications in the construction of visual vocabularies, as well as on concept propagation techniques underpinning the unsupervised annotation of images. My current interests in this field lie in the development of algorithms that can detect non-linearly separable clusters, e.g. using kernel methods, and on the applications of cluster analysis to mass spectrometry imaging data, which present an additional difficulty through the inclusion of spatial information.

Other Interests:

When not working, I enjoy strolling through the city’s streets and parks, reading, and occasionally drawing, or simply keeping up to date with the latest topics in science and technology.

Scientific Publications:

Zupanc, G.K.H., Sîrbulescu, R.F., Nichols, A., Ilies, I.: Electric interactions through chirping behavior in the weakly electric fish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 192, 159-173 (2006), doi:10.1007/s00359-005-0058-5

Ilies, I., Jaeger, H., Kosuchinas, O., Rincon, M., Sakenas, V., Vaskevicius, N.: Stepping forward through echoes of the past: Forecasting with echo state networks. Technical Report, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany (2007), URL: http://minds.jacobs-university.de/sites/default/files/uploads/papers/2213_Jaegeretal07b_0.pdf

Ilieş, I., & Wilhelm, A.: Projection-based clustering for high-dimensional data sets. In COMPSTAT 2008: Proceedings in Computational Statistics, Porto, Portugal (2008)

Jacobs, A., Herzog, O., Wilhelm, A., Ilies, I.: Relaxation-based data mining on images and text from news web sites. In Proceedings of IASC 2008, Yokohama, Japan (2008)

Ilies, I., Jacobs, A., Wilhelm, A., Herzog, O.: Classification of news images using captions and a visual vocabulary. Technical Report No. 50, Technologie Zentrum-Informatik, Universität Bremen, Germany (2009), URL: http://www.tzi.de/fileadmin/resources/resources/publikationen/tzi_berichte/TZI-Bericht_Nr._50.pdf

Sîrbulescu, R.F., Ilies, I., Zupanc, G.K.H.: Structural and functional regeneration after spinal cord injury in the weakly electric teleost fish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 195, 699-714 (2009), doi:10.1007/s00359-009-0445-4

Ilies, I., Jacobs, A., Herzog, O., Wilhelm, A.: Combining text and image processing in an automated image classification system. In Proceedings of the 41st Symposium on the Interface, Seattle, WA (2010)

Ilies, I., Wilhelm, A.: Projection-based partitioning for large, high-dimensional datasets. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 19, 474-492 (2010), doi:10.1198/jcgs.2010.08038

Ilies, I., Jacobs, A.: Automatic image annotation through concept propagation. In Ludes, P. (ed.), Algorithms of Power: Key Invisibles, pp. 71-86. LIT Verlag, Münster, Germany (2011), Preview URL: http://books.google.com/books?id=qstEXDZEzKcC&pg=PA71#v=onepage&q&f=false

Zupanc, G.K.H., Sîrbulescu, R.F., Ilies, I.: Radial glia in the cerebellum of adult teleost fish: Implications for the guidance of migrating new neurons. Neuroscience 210, 416-430 (2012), doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.03.012

Ilies, I.*, Zupanc, M.M.*, Zupanc, G.K.H.: Proteome analysis reveals protein candidates involved in early stages of brain regeneration in teleost fish. Neuroscience 219, 302-313 (2012), doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.05.028 (* equal contributions)

Zupanc, G.K.H., Ilieş, I., Sîrbulescu, R.F., Zupanc, M.M.: Large-scale identification of proteins involved in the development of a sexually dimorphic behavior. Journal of Neurophysiology 111, 1646-1654 (2014), doi:10.1152/jn.00750.2013

Traniello, I.M.*, Sîrbulescu, R.F.*, Ilieş, I.*, Zupanc, G.K.H.: Age-related changes in stem cell dynamics, neurogenesis, apoptosis, and gliosis in the adult brain: A novel teleost fish model of negligible senescence. Developmental Neurobiology 74, 514-530 (2014), doi:10.1002/dneu.22145 (* equal contributions)

Ilieş, I.*, Traniello, I.M.*, Sîrbulescu, R.F.*, Zupanc, G.K.H.: Determination of relative age using growth increments of scales as a minimally invasive method in the tropical freshwater Apteronotus leptorhynchus. Journal of Fish Biology 84, 1312-1325 (2014), doi:10.1111/jfb.12354 (* equal contributions)

Sîrbulescu, R.F., Ilieş, I., Zupanc, G.K.H.: Quantitative analysis reveals dominance of gliogenesis over neurogenesis in an adult brainstem oscillator. Developmental Neurobiology 74, 932-952 (2014), doi:10.1002/dneu.22176

Ilieş, I.*, Sîrbulescu, R.F.*, Zupanc, G.K.H.: Indeterminate body growth and lack of gonadal decline in the brown ghost knifefish (Apteronotus leptorhynchus), an organism exhibiting negligible brain senescence. Canadian Journal of Zoology 92, 947-953 (2014), doi:10.1139/cjz-2014-0109 (* equal contributions)

Sîrbulescu, R.F., Ilieş, I., Vitalo, A.G., Trull, K., Zhu, J., Traniello, I.M., Zupanc, G.K.H.: Adult stem cells in the knifefish cerebellum. Developmental Neurobiology 75, 39-65 (2015), doi:10.1002/dneu.22210

Sîrbulescu, R.F., Ilieş, I., Zupanc, G.K.H.: Matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9 in the cerebellum of teleost fish: Functional implications for adult neurogenesis. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience 68, 9-23 (2015), doi:10.1016/j.mcn.2015.03.015

Find my publications on PubMed, or on Google Scholar