Frank Bradke: Privy to Axon Growth

Full Professor and Senior Research Group Leader, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. Age: 42

Written byJef Akst
| 3 min read

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Frank Bradke’s work on neuronal polarization began in a bathroom. Though the toilet had been removed, the small room at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, was still recognizable as a former restroom, Bradke says. But that didn’t stop the budding neuro-scientist from setting up his new inverted microscope and spending about three years in the room, watching organelle movement in developing neurons.

“And he never had a complaint,” recalls his PhD advisor Carlos Dotti, now at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. “He just cares about doing science. He can do experiments in the back yard, he wouldn’t care.”

METHOD: Bradke was interested in understanding why one of a developing neuron’s many small projections, called neurites, developed into the axon that ...

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  • Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.

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