History of Medicine

This summer, I got the opportunity of a lifetime with my internship at a renowned neurology lab at MGH. I am learning so much, not just about scientific processes and research procedures, but also about Alzheimer's disease, a terrible disease afflicting over 35 million people worldwide. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive (and currently incurable) brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, eventually leading to the inability to carry out even the most basic tasks such as walking and dressing. The lab focuses on the pathological pathway to Alzheimer’s disease, which is still not fully understood. More about my lab research can be found at https://www.massgeneral.org/neurology/research/tanzi-lab-genetics-and-aging.  Alzheimer's disease was first studied by (and is named after) Dr. Alois Alzheimer who was treating a patient with mental illness with severe memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior.  After her death in 1906, Dr. Alzheimer exami

As I consider majoring in neurobiology (the study of the biological mechanisms that control the nervous system) in college, I thought it would be interesting to delve into the origins of neuroscience. For hundreds of years from the ancient Egyptians to the Greeks, humans believed that the seat of intellect was the heart (which is why the ancient Egyptians went to great lengths to preserve the heart after death but discarded the brain!)    The birth of neurology began 2500 years ago with Hippocrates who pondered over the purpose and functioning of the brain, reasoning that the brain must be the organ controlling sensation simply because most sensory organs - eyes, ears, and tongue -- are located close to the brain. This was starkly different from other opinions of the time which held that the heart was the main organ that controlled everything in humans. The brain was simply thought to be a "radiator" for pumping the heart and keeping it cool.  Later, Hippocrates expanded the

For my Harvard neuroscience class this summer, I had to read a technical publication and recap it. I found the paper to be very interesting as it discussed the long term effect of social stress leading to clinical depression. Social stress takes on a whole new meaning during these times of social distancing and isolation and highlights a major issue facing vulnerable people. Social interaction is an integral part of our lives. We thrive off of communication and relationship with one another. However, with all of the benefits of being social come certain drawbacks. One such negative impact is social stress that arises from social interactions and relationships, and someone who is repeatedly exposed to it suffers from chronic stress. Scientists have now proven that there is a direct link between chronic social stress and clinical depression- in fact, they have found a prominent pathway linking the two. In other words, prolonged diminishing of self-worth can cause depressive behavi

In the last few posts, I mentioned the rivalry between Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Camillo Golgi, but the story is so colorful, I decided to expand on it. Clearly both scientists were titans in the field of neuroscience, as both won the Nobel Prize (together, no less!) but they were also adversaries who disputed each other’s findings. Camillo Golgi was an Italian scientist who first studied psychiatry and wrote about mental illnesses, but later decided to focus on experimental study of the nervous system to explain mental conditions. Although tissue staining was a known technique, it wasn’t suitable for the nervous system because of its complexity. Working alone in a small kitchen converted into a lab, Golgi discovered that using potassium bicarbonate impregnated with silver nitrate resulted in a “black reaction” that allowed neurons to be imaged. This was a revolutionary finding and became known as the Golgi stain. Golgi used it to draw the first illustration of the anatomy of th

One name that pops up frequently while studying neuroscience is Santiago Ramón y Cajal. His contributions to the field of neuroscience is so vast that he is aptly called the father of neuroscience. Cajal  won the Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine in 1906 for the neuron doctrine that became the basis of neuroscience. Interestingly, he shared the Nobel Prize with his arch rival, Camillo Golgi. Cajal's main contribution was identifying that neurons are individual cells that are biochemically distinct from each other, which directly contradicted the theories of Golgi and many other contemporaries. Cajal is considered one of history's most brilliant neuroanatomists, but his story is more inspiring than just his contributions to neuroscience. As a child, Cajal was very mischievous and often got into trouble in school. He had to change several schools and finally withdrew from school altogether. His father tried to apprentice him to a barber, then a cobbler, but nothing

Even though the origins of neuroscience can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, it remained a speculative science until the imaging of the neurons. The person who transformed the study of nerves to an experimental and observational science was Spanish physician Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Cajal’s images and drawings made such a profound contribution to the field of neuroscience that he is considered the Father of Neuroscience. Cajal (1852-1935) created nearly 3000 drawings of the nervous system, detailing its architecture, and unraveling the mysteries of neuroanatomy. Through his elaborate drawings of the nervous system, he showed that the brain is made up of individual cells called neurons. Until Cajal’s drawings, the common view was that the nervous system was a spider web-like structure of cells that behaved like a single unit. Cajal’s drawing of the neurons in a bird’s cerebellum Although Cajal used the tissue staining method developed by his contemporary, Camillo G

Just as the purpose of the brain and the heart confused ancient scientists, so did the nervous system. Nerves had been identified fairly early but they proved difficult to categorize. Some thought it was similar to arteries and formed some sort of connective system for tissues. In fact, the word nerve is Greek for tendon or sinew, suggesting that it was thought to be some sort of physical connection. Despite the confusion about its exact mechanism, ancient medical practitioners seemed to understand its function. Nerves were attributed to both movement and sensation correctly, even though there were opposing views on what controlled these functions. Aristotle argued that nerves originated and were controlled by the heart, while others argued nerves were controlled by the brain. Centuries later, Galen proved that nerves emanated from the brain, scoffing at those “who know nothing of what is to be seen in dissection." Galen was the first to conclude that the spinal cord was an

As I wrote in my last post, Hippocrates was the first physician to recognize the brain as the center of conscience and intelligence. Until then, it was widely believed that the heart controlled all emotions and intellect. This theory came from the ancient Egyptians who maintained that the heart was the seat of thought and soul, and the brain was nothing more than an accessory. They believed that good deeds lightened the heart, so when one died, the God Ammut would weigh the heart and decide your fate depending on the weight. A heart that was as light as a feather was returned to life, but a heavy heart was gobbled up. It seems that this is the reason we correlate happiness and kindness with a light heart and grief with a heavy heart! God Ammut weighing a dead man's heart in the afterlife. Image: National Geographic The ancient Greeks had opposing views on the center of thought and emotions. Aristotle was one of the most famous proponents of the Egyptian theory that the hear

This summer, I am taking a course in neuroscience at Harvard Summer School. I am super excited about this course because I have always wanted to learn about neuroscience, and who can argue about taking a course at Harvard? The study of the brain is such a fascinating subject, and I have always wanted to learn more about it. Since I am the only left-handed person in my immediate family, it has always intrigued me to learn that right and left-handedness is controlled by different sides of the brain. So my brain functions differently than everyone else in my family! At least that's what I understand. I hope to confirm this and a lot more when I actually take the class. The brain is hands down the most complex organ of the human body. It controls so many functions- motor skills, memory, emotions to name just a few. It's no wonder it has intrigued men since the ancient times, as early as the Greeks and Hippocrates himself. In fact, it is often said that the birth of neuroscienc