Interview Curing the Brain With Cell Replacement Therapy

“Diversity makes a system work: The brain needs cells with different duties to function, the power of a team is the inspiration of different thoughts, attitudes and knowledge.”
_{Prof. Magdalena Götz, Director of the Stem Cell Department, Director of Institute of Stem Cell Research, Head of Research Group Neural Stem Cells}  

Prof. Magdalena’s breakthrough discovery was that glial cells are the neural stem cells in the brain. 
This finding rewrote the textbook knowledge that said that glial cells are just support cells.

MG: My research is about how the brain develops, how neurons are generated and how we can use these discoveries and mechanisms that we identify to replace lost neurons after brain injury.

MG: A game-changer was that we found that the glial cells act as the neural stem cells in the developing brain. This breakthrough discovery allowed us to proceed to brain injury and ask the question if we could also convince the reactive glial cells reacting to brain injury to resume neurogenesis or to convert them into new neurons for cell replacement.

MG: Yes – and indeed, it worked! With this discovery, we opened the field of direct neuronal reprograming which is now a huge new research area. Our approach with this direct neural reprograming is a new way to replace lost neurons. This is relevant for all neurological diseases that are based on the loss of neurons, such as stroke or traumatic brain injury, or also in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease. In all these diseases, neurons are lost and are not replaced by the body.

“My motivation is to push this neuronal reprogramming and thus the neuronal cell replacement therapy further, so that it can really help patients with neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.”

_{Prof. Magdalena Götz}

MG: Organelles are specific sub compartments in cells dedicated to a specific function. For example, mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, providing energy. But in fact, its function and composition in glial cells and stem cells is quite different than in neurons.

MG: When we convert glial cells into neurons, the function of these powerhouses often lags behind. But recently, we have shown how we can help here and thereby improve direct neuronal reprograming.

“Science implies diversity by nature and is as creative as art.”
_{Prof. Magdalena Götz}

MG: Diversity in our research team is of course of utmost importance: It is valuable to work with people from all over the world, from different cultures, different backgrounds, and different orientations. Everybody thinks a bit differently, and this is such a rich resource for original ideas and brainstorming and doing science. And this is what science is. In that regard, science is as creative as art.

MG: As a woman in science, of course, there are sometimes surprises. I remember one of my first committee meetings when I was applying for jobs and I came into the room with the committee: The head of the committee told me to make coffee because I, as a woman, can certainly do this better than he. Of course, I did not make any coffee...

MG: No, I did basic research and was interested in the development of the brain: It was only when I discovered that in the development radial glia act as neural stem cells that I decided to ask if we could also instruct adult glia to generate neurons.

MG: Helmholtz Munich offers the opportunity to conduct basic research and make such discoveries. With the existing collaborations here, I have the opportunity to research and implement direct neuronal reprogramming in close collaboration with my colleagues who work on epigenetic mechanisms, and bring it into clinical application at the Biomedical Center of the Medical Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

MG: I want to generate the right types of neurons to develop effective therapies for neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.

Latest update: March 2024.