Munich brain researcher receives Schering Prize

Brain Research: Brain can form new nerve cells after injury

09/24/2014

The stem cell researcher Prof. Magdalena Götz unleashed a small revolution among brain researchers when, in 2000, she discovered that the brain was capable of forming new nerve cells after injuries - contrary to the expert's opinion so far. It took several years for the research results of the studied biologist and philosopher to be proven and recognized by other scientists. Until then Götz had to fight in part with real hostility because of their revolutionary research findings. On Tuesday evening, the dedicated brain researcher received the 50,000 Schering Prize.

Munich brain researcher breaks old dogmas in brain research
For a long time it was assumed that the brain substance consists of two types of cells, the nerve cells (neurons), which are responsible for the conduction, and the glial cells, which should have only a supporting and nutritional function. However, Götz was able to show that glial cells act as stem cells during the development of the brain, from which all sorts of different cell types can develop - including the nerve cells of the brain. If an injury or disease of these nerve cells occurs, it is thus possible that the glial cells produce fresh neurons and replace the old defective cells.

The director of the Institute for Stem Cell Research at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich and professor at the Department of Physiological Genomics at Munich's Ludwig Maximilians University received the Ernst Schering Prize on Tuesday for this groundbreaking discovery. In the future, Götz's research could benefit patients with diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis, as long as it is possible to stimulate the reproduction of neurons by medication. „Götz's research is considered groundbreaking for the attempts to direct the targeted differentiation of stem cells and thus to solve one of the central problems of applied stem cell research“, According to a statement by Helmholtz Zentrum München.

Young talent award goes to biologist from Heidelberg
The Friedmund Neumann Award for Young Researchers of the Ernst Schering Foundation was awarded to Dr. Ing. Maja Köhn awarded by the European Molecular Biology Laboratories in Heidelberg. The chemical biologist is dedicated to the study of phosphatases. These are enzymes that can remove phosphate residues from proteins. This process plays an essential role in signal transmission in the cell, for example, in deciding whether a cell kills itself or degenerates into a cancerous cell. Köhn's results are particularly interesting for researching new drugs.