„Rising to the forefront of brain research with the ideas of the "Father of Geese," Konrad Lorenz? Young behavioral scientist Johannes Kohl, 42—who studied in Magdeburg and now works in London—has achieved exactly that. Not with geese, however, but with mice. Using them, Kohl investigates in minute detail how the brain changes during pregnancy and parenthood, and how stress, hunger, puberty, and hormones influence the brain's molecular circuits. This week, at the FENS international neuroscience congress in Barcelona, "Jonny" Kohl will receive the latest in a long line of awards: the Eric Kandel Young Neuroscientists Prize, a biennial honor carrying a cash award of €100,000. F.A.Z.
Mr. Kohl, you work at the Francis Crick Institute and are now receiving the Eric Kandel Young Neuroscientists Prize. These are two absolute heavyweights of brain research—both Nobel laureates. How does it feel to follow in such giant footsteps?
I am certainly convinced that the Crick Institute is the best place in the world for my research. The group size—around twelve staff members—is manageable; we don’t have "mega-labs" or teaching obligations, and we receive plenty of administrative support.
How long have you been there?
Since 2019. When I arrived, it was set up much like a large start-up, with very flat hierarchies and a short history. Sometimes it is better to start in a young lab; the historical legacy associated with such heavyweights at long-established institutes can be quite a burden for young researchers.
And yet, your research does have a long tradition of its own. If you ask ChatGPT about you, the first answer states that you are gaining new insights in the field of ethology. That is the continuation of the work of Konrad Lorenz, the behavioral scientist who became famous for his experiments with greylag geese.
(Laughs) It would sound presumptuous to say I want to follow in Lorenz’s footsteps. It’s interesting that the AI comes up with that. But certainly, we do look at instinctive behavior. In my opinion, instincts offer the best chance of linking behavior to the structure of the nervous system and the underlying genetic information. Lorenz and his Dutch colleague Nikolaas Tinbergen set the standards for researching such behavior—and that remains the case today.
That makes it sound as though research hasn't made any decisive progress since then?
Oh, absolutely—an incredible amount of neuroscientific insight has been gained and facts established in recent years. But what’s still missing is the grand theory. If you will, we are still missing the Darwin of neuroscience. Kandel’s *Principles of Neural Science*—the standard textbook—has grown thicker with every edition. Yet what we actually want is for these books to eventually get thinner as fundamental principles emerge from the findings. Darwin’s *On the Origin of Species* isn't a massive tome, after all. In brain research, our theory is lagging behind the sheer volume of information being gathered at breakneck speed across all levels—from behavioral science to molecular neuroscience.
It often comes down to brain plasticity—including in your work. Was the brain's flexibility underestimated?
Definitely. The adult brain is far more plastic than was long thought, and we still don't know enough about what limits that plasticity. We do see, however, that hormones can enable new plasticity. We repeatedly recapitulate early development. This applies, for instance, when women become pregnant or when people become parents—situations where this brain change is an adaptation to new challenges. But that holds true later on, too.
Do we reinvent ourselves neurologically in old age?
Absolutely. My wife is a clinical psychologist specializing in people over the age of 65. A great deal can still be achieved there through cognitive behavioral therapy or speech therapy. If brain plasticity didn't exist, her job would be pointless. We need more openness again. You still frequently hear the narrative that older people are set in their ways and not open-minded. That is obviously not the case.
Can the results of your research on mice be applied to humans?
Processes like pregnancy are similar in mice and humans, as are the types of hormones involved. The structural changes are comparable, too. There are simply limits to what we can study in humans; that is the reason for our animal experiments.
What is your most spectacular discovery?
It is particularly striking that the brain undergoes structural changes during pregnancy, effectively preparing for parenthood in anticipation—even before the offspring are born. I find it equally fascinating that females can acquire equally pronounced parental behavior simply through observation and social experience—entirely without pregnancy and the associated hormonal changes. The resulting behavior is very similar, yet the path taken to reach it appears to differ. We are therefore interested in whether the same neuronal circuits undergo different forms of remodeling at the cellular level depending on the trigger.
What other behaviors are you interested in?
Aggression, for instance, or foraging. For all these types of behavior, a few thousand molecularly defined nerve cells in the brain—so-called "entry points"—have been identified as controlling the behavior. We can selectively manipulate these groups of neurons; we no longer simply poke around in the brain at random.
Can insights into these circuits be applied to therapies or education?
Our primary goal is to understand the fundamental rules governing how neuronal circuits change in the adult brain. This is basic research, yet it often serves as the first step toward medical progress. Only when we understand how the brain adapts to changing internal states under normal conditions—such as during pregnancy—can we identify why these adaptive processes become unbalanced in cases of illness. In the long run, this knowledge could help develop new approaches for preventing or treating conditions like postpartum depression.
Interview conducted by Joachim Müller-Jung." [1]
1. "Was uns fehlt, ist ein Darwin": Hirnforscher sammeln Daten ohne Ende. Alles erklären kann man damit nicht. Wie der Jungstar der Verhaltensforschung, Johannes Kohl, einige Lücken schließen will. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 08 July 2026: N1.
Komentarų nėra:
Rašyti komentarą