TRONDHEIM: 6th October 2014 was a historic day for Norwegian research.
When announced Nobelinstituttet that Norwegian couple May-Britt and Edvard Moser at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at NTNU awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine 2014.
Price divided into two, half the couple Moser, the other half to the US-British scientist John O’Keefe.
This is the first time in history that Norwegian researchers receive Nobel Prize in medicine, despite the fact that Norway has had winners in all the other Nobel categories earlier.
NTNU researchers receives the award for his work on the mapping of grid cells in the brain. Gitter cells are nerve cells that ensures that the brain can orient themselves in three-dimensional space.
Large team
Some people may not realize is how large research team to couple Moser is.
– In the beginning we were maybe 15 people. Today there are over a hundred people working there, estimates Trygve Solstad (36) from Overhalla.
He is one of many who have contributed to the work that led to the Nobel Prize.
Even he started his research career by taking both masters and doctorate at the couple Moser. His doctorate, he gave in 2009.
– I have great interest in mathematics and wanted like to continue with it. In the laboratory of May-Britt and Edvard I got combining mathematics and brain research, says Solstad.
He sits in his office at Rotvoll in Trondheim. He works as a professor at Sør-Trøndelag University College.
Before him is a computer screen that shows how brain cells behave. That is what he has worked with, along with several other researchers. Including May-Britt and Edvard Moser.
– Mathematics can be used to try to express how the brain behaves, and it is among other such things that I work with, he said.
– Is it possible to describe a brain using mathematical equations?
– We try to describe certain parts of the brain with math. Then perform practical measurements, and we see whether it agrees with the equations. As a rule, the mistakes, but who knows, maybe manages some to get it one day, he said.
Used rats – every day
The great discovery of grid cells, the main discovery that gave Nobel, was made already in 2003, later published in 2005.
In retrospect, Solstad and several other scientists discovered several types of brain cells that work together to make the brain a sense of place. This has been done through several papers – and naturally a crazy number labtimer.
– You use rats in experiments?
– Yes, we do.
– Some people think it is not specifically human?
– There are some who believe. But let me assure you that the rats we use, certainly not suffer from that used in experiments. They are taken very good care of us, and groomed with every single day. Their task is to run around in a crate or a maze and eat chocolate biscuits, Solstad says.
– First and foremost comes the welfare of animals, then research, he assured.
Used on humans
He tells of cases where there used similar technology on people.
– Some sufferers of epilepsy so strong that it is deadly. The only known way to cure this is to manually remove the part of the brain that start a seizure. When used similar technology on people, without the patient knows pain. This is because the brain can not register pain. It has the the no use, since it is so closed.
– Absolutely amazing
Sunday held Nobel laureates lecture in Stockholm. Here was Solstad present.
– It is fantastic for Norwegian research and for NTNU to get Nobel Prize in medicine, smiles Solstad.
– One of the most exciting is that which seems so abstract and difficult, can be observed very precisely. It is possible to know how a rat – or human, for that matter, are, just by looking at the activity that takes place in the brain, says Solstad.
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