The Science of Sentiments

By Brittani Sonnenberg

"I was hell bent," explained Gabby Rudenko, on how as an undergraduate she managed to convince her university's administration to let her work at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and later at the University of Groningen in the Protein Crystallography Group. Both were state-of-the-art labs that lay far beyond the scope of regular undergraduate rotations. "I've always known where I wanted to go," Rudenko said. "From very early on I was interested in protein structure and fascinated by the idea that it could be used to design drugs. In the early '90s, it was just a crazy idea in the heads of a few academics; now it's absolutely routine in the pharmaceutical industry."

Currently, Rudenko's lab is working on proteins found at the synapses, the connection points between neurons in the brain, of which there are estimated to be trillions. These connections are crucial for processing data, like learning and memorizing ideas. Oddly enough, synapses are at once extremely tightly joined together, and yet also plastic in a way that is only beginning to be understood. It is this plasticity that scientists suspect underlies the basis for many mental processes. For example, drug addiction is thought to be accompanied by changes to certain synapses in various regions of the brain. "The fact that we are starting to think of learning, memory, and even emotions—the very things that make us 'human'—in terms of neural circuits, protein networks at synapses, and indeed individual proteins is incredibly, and almost overwhelmingly fascinating," said Rudenko. The Rudenko lab uses a combination of structural biology, biochemical and biophysical techniques to understand the properties of a number of synaptic proteins.

Rudenko has a 4-year-old son, and admits that the task of being a scientist and a mother can be challenging sometimes, although "every day I get a bit better at it and I have an incredibly supportive family." She says that her position as a woman scientist at the University of Michigan has been greatly supported by two things—a brilliant daycare center for her son, and the University's ADVANCE program that tracks, encourages and mentors women scientists at Michigan. "In the end it doesn't matter if you're a woman, man, or a kangaroo—you need results, publications, and grants," said Rudenko, "although a woman probably experiences the journey differently."

Rudenko, who was one of the first scientists hired from outside of the University of Michigan to join the LSI, says the institute has changed enormously. "When I came here the building was largely empty," she said. "Actually, the very first time I visited, it was a very, very large hole in the ground. I can't imagine what the LSI will look like in five years." As for her own future goals, Rudenko hopes to answer some of the many questions her research on a large family of synaptic adhesion molecules has raised. "Things are really changing right now, the field is incredibly fast-paced," she said. "It's an incredibly exciting time to be working."