The North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts only admits exceptional researchers and artists. It currently has 280 full and almost 130 corresponding members, who engage in scientific and academic dialogue with one another and exchange ideas and opinions with research and cultural institutions in Germany and further afield. Only figures who “have distinguished themselves through scientific or artistic achievements,” in the words of its articles of association, are eligible for election.
Professor Frank Bradke’s research focuses on how nerve cells grow and regenerate. The Leibniz Prize winner has helped us better understand the processes that control the growth of nerve cells and their extensions, known as axons, and has decoded some of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that can contribute to neuron regeneration in the central nervous system. His research findings are particularly relevant to people with paraplegia: whilst nerve cells in other parts of the body, such as the limbs, can mount a certain recovery from damage caused by an accident or illness, those in the brain or spinal cord cannot. Why this is the case and whether there are ways to enable these nerve cells to regenerate too are some of the questions that the University of Bonn professor is tackling together with his working group at the DZNE. Through his research, therefore, the molecular biologist is laying the foundations for innovative new treatments that might be able to treat patients with paraplegia in the future.
Professor Bradke previously conducted research at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, the University of California, Stanford University and what was then the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried. The top-level researcher is now a senior group leader at the DZNE and a professor at the University of Bonn. Frank Bradke has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina since 2014 and was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in 2016. He also sits on the Steering Committee for the ImmunoSensation2 Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn.
