Christiane Nusslein-Volhard - 'Lady Nobel' was mesmerized by working with flies

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard is a German biologist who won the 1995 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Eric Wieschaus and Edward Lewis for research into genetic control during embryogenesis.

"Flies follow me in my dreams"

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard was born on October 20, 1942 in Frankfurt (Germany). Her father is an architect. Although Nusslein-Volhard used to regularly study the art and flute, he was more interested in flora and fauna. By the age of 12, Nusslein-Volhard knew he wanted to be a biologist.

At Eberhard-Karl University in Tubingen, Nusslein-Volhard received her diploma in Biochemistry in 1968 and her doctorate in 1974 from the University of Tubingen, where she studied protein-DNA interactions and the binding of RNA polymerases. in Escherichia coli. After a fellowship in Basel and Freiburg, she joined Wieschaus as a group leader at the European Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Heidelberg 1978. In 1981 she returned to Tubingen, where she held the position of Director. Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology until 2015.

In the laboratory, Christiane Nusslein studies the molecular structures of the fruit fly embryo Drosophila melanogaste. "I was immediately fascinated when working with flies. They fascinate me and follow me into my dreams," says Christiane Nusslein-Volhard.

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard worked as a scientist at a young age.

Nusslein-Volhard worked with Klaus Sander, an insect embryologist. Sander's experiments influenced Nusslein-Volhard's thinking about fruit fly research. Nusslein-Volhard and Eric Wieschaus spent more than a year breeding 40,000 families of fruit flies and systematically examining their genetic makeup using a dual microscope.

Their trial-and-error method led to the discovery that of the fly's 20,000 genes, about 5,000 are considered important for early development and about 140 are essential. They assigned responsibility for fruit fly embryonic development to three genetics: the gap gene, which creates the body plan from head to tail; genes that regulate pairs, regulate body segmentation; and polar genes, establishing a repeat structure in each fragment. They generated random mutations in fruit flies using EMS (ethyl methanesulfonate). Some of these mutations affect genes involved in embryonic development.

Nusslein-Volhard and Wieschaus used the segmented form of Drosophila larvae to solve the logic of genes that control development. Subsequent study of these mutations and their interactions has led to new, important insights into the early development of Drosophila, particularly the mechanisms underlying the stepwise development of Drosophila. body segment.

In the early 1990s, Nusslein-Volhard began studying the genes that control development in the zebrafish Danio rerio. These organisms are ideal models for developmental biology investigations because of their clear embryos, rapid reproductive rates, and close relatives of other vertebrates.

Nusslein-Volhard studied the movement of cells from their starting site to their target site in zebrafish embryos. Her studies in zebrafish have helped to elucidate genes and other cellular substances involved in human development and in the regulation of normal human physiology.

At this time, little was known about the genetic and molecular mechanisms by which multicellular organisms develop from single cells to morphologically complex forms during embryogenesis. She hopes that the combination of many studies and systems in one laboratory can provide the basis for a broader understanding of the complex evolution of animal and human life.

By 1993, Nusslein-Volhard had built a fish lab run by 16 researchers and had nearly 7,000 aquariums. Three years later, her lab published a manuscript describing 1,200 mutant zebrafish showing that, like Drosophila, a large number of developmental mutations can be acquired in a single vertebrate species.

Nusslein-Volhard has received many awards. In 1986, she received the Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation. In 1989, she received the Carus Prize of the Order of the German Academy of Sciences. In the 1990s, Nusslein-Volhard received the Rosenstiel Medal and won the 1991 Albert Lasker Prize for Basic Medical Research.

Supporting young women in scientific activities

In 1995, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her discoveries of genetics during early embryonic development, along with two other scientists, Eric Wieschaus and Edward Lewis. Christiane Nusslein-Volhard did not expect the research to be so successful and her discoveries and discoveries relevant to medicine.

She founded the Christiane Nusslein-Volhard Foundation to support young women in science.

Her basic principles derived from her study of fruit flies can also be applied to vertebrates, including humans. Her great inventions and contributions have brought practical benefits to science in general and people in particular. The finding has major implications for the understanding of human reproduction. Scientists have named Asteroid 15811 Nusslein-Volhard in honor of her contribution to world medicine.

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard used most of the Nobel Prize in Medicine to raise funds to establish the Christiane Nusslein-Volhard Foundation with the sole purpose of supporting young women in scientific activities, creating conditions for they have more time for science. In 2004, Ms. Nusslein-Volhard founded the Christiane Nusslein-Volhard Foundation to support promising young German female scientists who are raising children. The focus of the fund is on creating favorable conditions for the care of children, helping female researchers feel secure in their work.

"They are dedicated researchers. Their children are cared for full-time during the workday. But in the hours that follow, when childless male and female colleagues are concentrating on reading more or During the study, women with children were washing dishes and doing housework. They stayed home after seminars because they did not have a babysitter overnight. Exhausted and demoralized, some gave up on their goals. her scientific goals to switch to careers that can better meet the daily grind of family life," she shared.

Since 2001, she has been a member of the Nationaler Ethikrat (German National Ethical Council). Through her research, in 2002, she published the book Seahorses: A Practical Approach, a laboratory manual outlining practical principles when working with the species. Later, zebrafish became a standard vertebrate study model due to their similarities to mammals, rapid embryonic development. She has also published many other books on genetics.