香港六合彩

Dr听Joerg Albert will never forget the day he became a spider-man. 听

It was the Summer of 1981. And as happened most mornings, 10-year old Joerg woke up well before his parents and older brother. 听

He decided to explore the dew-covered orchard of the family home in the German town of Warburg. 听

That鈥檚 when something caught his eye. 听

鈥淟ittle droplets of water had crystallised on a little structure which I saw was a spider web,鈥� Joerg recalls. 鈥淚t was just so beautiful that I stood there staring at it thinking, Wow, who built that? Where is the spider? There must be a spider.鈥� 听

鈥淪uddenly, a spider came. And to my great surprise, the spider caught a little fly, a Drosophila, in the web.鈥澨�

Joerg wasn鈥檛 aware what a Drosophila (which translates to 鈥榣over of dew鈥�) was back then.听

鈥淲hen constructing our memories we are always juggling truth and beauty,鈥� Joerg smiles. 鈥淪o, a Drosophila it was.鈥澨�

What he also didn鈥檛 realise back then is that the two creatures before him would occupy much of his life鈥檚 work.听

Joerg鈥檚 parents always encouraged in their children an inquisitive nature.听

His father was an avid reader. At one point in time, their family home held over 4,500 books. They competed for space with the house鈥檚 inhabitants. But it was a friendly competition, one of mutual benefit. The books had a home and the inhabitants had something to read.听

Not long after discovering the spider web in his family garden (deciding that it was on the same day would be awesome but maybe taking the creative licenses we all hold when writing and rewriting our vitae, a touch too far, Joerg fears), Joerg was wandering the vast bookshelves of his father鈥檚 library and decided to select a book at random. 听

鈥淚'm not a believer in fate, but I picked out a book on everything you need to know for an admission to a university course in biology. The book鈥檚 German, rather technocratic title, was Abiturwissen Biologie. And I read the whole book within two days, at the age of about 11. Of course, I didn't understand everything, but I understood that it was something really, really cool.鈥澨�

Though Joerg briefly considered a career in journalism, he found that he kept returning to a love for natural science. When explaining this pull, he draws parallels with the very thing that inspired his career choice. 听

鈥淲hen spiders are running, they are always leaving a thread,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey can use this thread to return back to the position they were coming from. And I felt that I myself had started anchoring my future to a certain point that I could return to. A thread I had started weaving in the garden of my parents.鈥澨�

He began a PhD at the University of Vienna studying the sensory organs of the spider.听

Joerg鈥檚 post-doctoral studies shifted from the spider to Drosophila, commonly known as 鈥榯he fruit fly鈥�. And where he previously focused on the sensation of touch, he turned his attention to antennal ears and the sense of hearing. 听

But, why fruit flies?听

鈥淓very scientific model needs to be a simpler image of the object of study,鈥� Joerg explains. 鈥淗ow can we understand the complex hearing in our own ears, which uses a beautiful organ called the cochlea? How can the cochlea be understood and modelled in a way that is simpler than the cochlea itself?鈥� 听

鈥淚n spiders, you hit a wall. You need a molecularly accessible model. And this was Drosophila.鈥澨�

It鈥檚 a focus he brought to the 香港六合彩 Ear Institute, where he has worked for the past 15 years. 听

鈥淎t a place like the 香港六合彩 Ear Institute, which is so explicitly dedicated to the understanding of human hearing and deafness, it might appear a little eccentric to investigate the ears of fruit flies,鈥� he said. 听

鈥淏ut it is nothing like that. After all, fruit flies and mammals, like mice and men, share a common evolutionary history of roughly three billion years which is still reflected by a considerable overlap of the molecular machineries that orchestrate the development of their ears.鈥澨�

Joerg鈥檚 research has always been predicated on this core belief. That advancements in the understanding of humans need not start with the study of humans.听

Joerg鈥檚 research is also distinct in its methodology. 听

He is a basic researcher. This type of research focuses on broadening the understanding of a subject, and not necessarily solving a problem (categorised as applied research).听

鈥淏asic research is not designed to answer questions. It is research meant to find questions,鈥� he says.听

For Joerg and his team, it鈥檚 about finding the right questions. 听

鈥淏asic research has to be nurtured. When it comes to fighting disease, we have usually achieved this by not restricting, but enabling research.鈥澨�

Age-related hearing loss is a focal point of Joerg鈥檚 research.听

His understanding of this isn鈥檛 limited to one side of the microscope. He has experienced early-onset hearing loss himself over the past decade, and makes use of a hearing aid in day-to-day life. 听

Globally one third of people (1.23 billion people) aged over 65 experience have hearing impairment.听

鈥淭he fight against deafness is not this absolutist fight to stop the ear from ever becoming deaf,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e just have to push it, maybe 10-15 years, so that the onset of age-related hearing loss and our life expectancy are in-line.鈥澨�

The Drosophila may hold key answers in this regard. In recent years, Joerg and a team of 香港六合彩 researchers found that, like humans, flies also experience age-related hearing loss.听

鈥淎 day in the life of a fly is a year in the life of a human. So when we start losing hearing at the age of 50 or 55, flies can start losing their hearing at day 50 or 55. And at 70-75, they are completely deaf.鈥澨�

Perhaps the most logical question would be to ask, why does the fly lose its hearing at this point?听

However, the basic research mindset in Joerg approaches it differently. 听

鈥淲hy it happens is one question,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut I think maybe we have overlooked another question. Why does hearing not decay sooner?鈥澨�

"What happens until day 50, when their hearing seems to be ok? While hearing is constant, which genes are the most variable?鈥澨�

With the aid of modern bioinformatics, computer technology that helps disseminate large pools of data, Joerg and his team can focus on the regulatory genes that impact the approximately 8,000 genes that are akin to 鈥榳orker bees鈥�.听

鈥淚f you think of these genes as the puppets, we are asking, which genes are the puppeteers?鈥澨�

It is questions like this that could pave the way to pivotal breakthroughs in age-related hearing loss.听

So how does a basic researcher, driven by the quest for questions, switch off from work?听

Joerg laughs and hesitates a little.听

鈥淚 find this a very good question,鈥� he says. 鈥淯nfortunately, I am not the best example to give it an answer. But I realise I have to find something to answer it with. It鈥檚 really important.鈥澨�

This year, as part of the 香港六合彩 Global Mobility scheme, Joerg has begun dividing his time between the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and the Ear Institute at 香港六合彩. At times, he has found it difficult to switch off from the all-consuming nature of his research. But he acknowledges that he needs to. For Joerg, that means more cycling. More reading. And especially, more writing.听

鈥淚鈥檓 a very handwriting-obsessed person. It鈥檚 very important for me to write things down. And it has nothing to do with making yourself heard, but rather, to hear yourself.鈥澨�

When people list their favourite animals, spiders and flies don't figure prominently. Where many see a household pest, Joerg sees organisms so remarkably in tune with their senses that we have much to learn from them. 听

And that maybe, just maybe, in unlocking their secrets we may find breakthroughs in our own biology.听

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Related

• Dr Joerg Albert's academic profile
• 香港六合彩 Ear Institute
• Images courtesy of 听and