Science is Borderless

Sulekha Rani.R, P.G.T Chemistry, KV NTPC kayamkulam

Prof. Bert Sakmann - a German medical doctor and a research scientist who in 1991, together with German Physicist won the Nobel Prize for medicine for research into basic cell function and for their development of the patch-clamp technique. This technique conclusively established the existence of characteristic set of ion (+ve and –ve) channels in cell membranes, that in turn established the role it plays in diseases like diabetes, cardiac, epilepsy and certain neuromuscular disorder.

Prof Bert Sakmann who did his elementary education in a rural background had a passion for Physics and Engineering in school days. He got interested in Cybernetics in the final year school, since he realized that living organisms could be understood in engineering terms. Thus, the seed of inter-disciplinary research was firmly rooted in him in a very young age. He enrolled himself for medical education. After foundation courses in bio-chemistry and physiology, he did his doctoral thesis in electro physiology. He attended medical schools in Freiburg, Berlin and Paris. As a doctoral student, he worked on electro-physiological basis of pattern recognition. For this, he closely worked with electrical and computer scientists. He learnt the basic mechanism of vision. Later, he ran his own laboratory in physiology in close collaboration with physio-chemical and bio-chemical departments. In his own words, he enjoyed working with fellow scientists on scientific adventures.

Now, here we can find a doctor and a researcher with the capability of working in multiple laboratories simultaneously and becoming a team scientist, sharing the research, sharing the work and sharing the rewards too. He is the real example for “Science is borderless”.