Prof. Tu Jie (R), deputy director of the Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering of SIAT, presents Prof. Helmut Kettenmann, with a special customized souvenir after he gave a lecture titled “The dark side of the brain” in Shenzhen in November last year. Courtesy of SIAT

The brain used to be called “the seed of the soul” by people in the old days.

“All human behaviors are essentially manifested in the brain. Your personalities are manifested in your brain. The brain is something that is really fundamental for understanding human behaviors and attitudes,” Prof. Helmut Kettenmann, head of the Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life and Health of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIAT), said while explaining the importance of studying the brain.

According to Kettenmann, whose research field is glial cells — incredibly important cell populations in the brain, the importance of brain research is not at question as “many diseases affecting the brain are really severe diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, schizophrenia and autism,” the professor said. “All these diseases are manifested by changes in the brain, and to understand them can hopefully give rise to treatments or diagnosis to the diseases.”

The brain contains two main cell populations — neurons and glial cells — which are both indispensable as the brain can only work if these two cell types work together, according to Kettenmann.

Yet, glial cells had been long considered to provide only structural support to neurons — until the professor came along. He initiated international glial cell research in an almost coincidental chance in the 1980s and helped it gain recognition.

After dedicating almost three decades to the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) in Germany, Kettenmann, who hails from Germany, now continues his scientific dream at a lab he has built in Shenzhen.

Strong interactions with Shenzhen

The professor was awarded the first Guangdong Friendship Award in March this year for his outstanding contributions to the province’s development.

“It recognized my activity in China, particularly in Shenzhen,” Kettenmann said. “And more specifically, I built a laboratory at SIAT. The award is hopefully a good sign.”

Kettenmann established the lab in 2020, working on the same topics as he did in Germany. The lab has two main goals. One is to understand how glial cells are functioning in the normal brain, and the other is to comprehend how glial cells influence brain diseases.

Long before the professor initiated work in the lab, his scientific story with Shenzhen had already begun. He has kept frequent interactions with Shenzhen scientists for almost a decade, bridged by his former doctoral student Wang Liping, director of the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute at SIAT.

“After Wang was appointed as the director of the new science program in Shenzhen, I had been visiting the city on a regular basis. I was also on the advisory board of the institute. That’s how I connected with SIAT,” Kettenmann said. “And now, I meet very talented students and excellent colleagues at the institute.”

Excellent scientific environment

The strong connections he has built upon the years with Shenzhen scientists have paved the way for the professor to set up his lab in the city. Moreover, the professor highlighted one of the key reasons for him to choose Shenzhen is its ideal environment for scientific research.

“The available technologies in Shenzhen are quite unique, which creates an excellent environment for those very talented people engaged in behavioral studies in accordance with what we are doing,” Kettenmann said. His team is collaborating with some local talented people specializing in analysis of behavioral studies.

“In order to understand functions of the brain, you have to do behavioral studies, because behaviors are controlled by brain functions,” Kettenmann explained.

Expecting more intl. vibe

The scientist is helping organize this year’s European Meeting on Glial Cells in Health and Disease, the largest international meeting of glial researchers that involve scientists from all over the world.

This year’s meeting, to be held in Berlin from July 8 to 11, will gather around 1,500 scientists.

Kettenmann will take the researchers of his lab to attend the conference.

“It is important to create an international atmosphere for scientific research. Science is international. Science is not happening only in Germany, China or the U.S. It’s an international endeavor and scientists have to work together,” Kettenmann said.

Kettenmann’s lab, which is in the initial stage, has recruited six researchers – five Chinese and one Nepalese. He hopes his lab will have a more international mix of students and researchers in the future.