Freethinking scientist ponders the brain
Raised by counterculture parents in Northern California, neuroscientist Gina Turrigiano spent two years of her childhood living in an unheated teepee. It was perfect training, she says, for a future scientist.
''My rather odd upbringing has probably made it easier to be iconoclastic and think about things differently than other people do," says Turrigiano.
Now a professor of biology at Brandeis University, Turrigiano has used her different way of thinking to delve into the wiring of the brain. Her research has helped explain how the brain can allow people to constantly learn and develop without getting overwhelmed.
Five years ago her work earned her a MacArthur ''genius" grant. Now she is trying to use her insights into the brain to tackle neurological diseases such as schizophrenia and epilepsy.
''Gina went for it and hit it big," says Larry Abbott, a former Brandeis colleague who now teaches neuroscience at Columbia University. ''She wasn't constrained by going down the path that everyone else was going down. At the same time, she was smart enough not to get lost."
That's no small feat when you are talking about the most complicated system in the body, with upward of 100 billion neurons wired in a nearly infinite number of combinations.
''The biggest question I want to answer is how do you actually wire up the brain and make it work," says Turrigiano.
For decades, scientists have known that the more that neurons are used, the more their connections with adjacent neurons are strengthened. The conundrum that's baffled brain researchers is how the brain regulates this process and keeps itself from becoming overloaded -- a problem that unchecked can lead to brain disorders like epilepsy.
Imagine if your car could keep itself in check like that, she says. ''Whenever it wasn't running well, it could do some kind of self-assessment and give itself a tuneup."
With long, dark hair and black-rimmed glasses, Turrigiano looks younger than her 43 years. Despite the complexity of her research, she wins over students and colleagues alike with a patient, plain-language teaching style.
''Her questions never have an edge," says David DeRosier, a retired biology professor at Brandeis who now audits one of her classes. ''She draws students out by asking questions, and whether they are shy or quite verbal, she gets them all talking."
Turrigiano's own early education was a hodgepodge of ''free schools, home-schooling, and running wild in the woods," she says, all of which contributed to her love of the natural world.
Originally planning to study ecology, she stumbled on neurobiology at college.
''It was like I was struck by lightning," she says. ''I said, this is the biggest mystery of all. It intersects every aspect of human endeavor -- psychology, philosophy, language -- if you understand this, then ultimately you gain insight into everything else."
Turrigiano collaborates in her research with husband Sacha Nelson, 46, whom she met as a graduate student. Perhaps her biggest inspiration, however, are her two sons, who provide constant stimulation for her own synapses.
''My 8-year-old learned how to ride his bike just yesterday," she said recently. ''It was clear his brain had been working on it all winter. You think about these things in the lab and then actually see them happening in your kid. It's pretty hard not to be completely fascinated by that."
Education: BA, Reed College; PhD, University of California, San Diego
Hometown: Grew up in Berkeley and Mendocino, Calif.; now lives in Weston
Family: Husband and two sons, Gabe, 14, and Raphe, 8
Hobbies: ''Lots of things I wish I had more time for," including hiking, camping, and gardening.
Number of neurons in the brain: About 100 billion, ''the same estimate for the number of stars in the galaxy. . . . Since each neuron can receive up to 100,000 connections from other neurons, our brains have 10 to the 14th power."
Strangest place for an insight: ''One day I was sitting in the dentist's office when -- bam! The idea came that fit all of this data into place. . . . Perhaps scientists should spend more time on oral hygiene!"
