Neural research lab inaugurated

Writer: Han Ximin  | Editor: Stephanie Yang  | From:  | Updated: 2019-03-25

A new laboratory named after a Nobel laureate focusing on neurology was inaugurated at Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technologies under the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Saturday.

The Shenzhen Neher Neural Plasticity Laboratory, led by Nobel laureate Erwin Neher, is the sixth laboratory named after a Nobel laureate in Shenzhen. It is one of the city’s key projects in developing research on brain science. The laboratory will focus on researching the human brain and trying to find the disease occurrence mechanism of brain diseases, while being involved in researches on biomedicine development and the health industry.

“This is my first research lab in China and it will engage in study on brain science,” Neher said at the inauguration ceremony.

At present, the lab has a team of 30 full-time researchers, including five senior researchers. The number will increase to 50 before the end of the year.

Also Saturday, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technologies (SIAT), in partnership with University of British Columbia (UBC) of Canada, announced the establishment of an academician work station under the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Brain Science Innovation Institute. Six academicians from UBC and eight researchers from SIAT will jointly conduct research on frontier fields relating to brain science. The team will expand to 60 people.

SIAT started brain science research a decade ago through cooperation with Neher and UBC, and the institute hopes to increase the city’s influence in brain science, according to SIAT President Fan Jianping.

Neher is a German biophysicist specializing in the field of cell physiology. In 1991, he and Bert Sakmann were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells along with their other contributions to the field.