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ePaper created 2013-02-01, 09:35:07 | version 1.24.0
3|2012 Research in Jülich 7 COVER STORY | Neutrons 7 pus and the crocodile, but the research project itself also resembled a long and winding road. It is a prime example of the fact that research takes place in inter- nationally networked teams today and requires state-of-the-art instruments. However, it also illustrates that scientific discoveries are sometimes achieved in a roundabout way. TURNING SETBACK INTO SUCCESS It all started with a setback in 1994 which, in retrospect, turned out to be a stroke of luck. “It was past midnight when we started the experiment,” recalls Prof. Gerhard M. Artmann, a biophysics profes- sor at Aachen University of Applied Sci- ences. At the time, he was at the Universi- ty of San Diego, California, for a research visit, studying the behaviour of human red blood cells drawn into a micropipette, a glass tube strongly tapered at one end – in this case to a diameter of around a thou- sandth of a millimetre. When a red blood cell is drawn in with this kind of micropipette, it usually be- comes stuck in the tip. If air is subsequent- ly blown into the pipette, the blood cell breaks free again, changing its shape in the process. It turns from a round bicon- cave disc with a flattened centre into a sphere with little spikes. After a while, the blood cell returns to its original shape. As a biophysicist, Artmann was inter- ested in the mechanisms and substances in the blood cell involved in this transfor- mation. That night he wanted to find out in particular whether the temperature had an impact on how fast the blood cells revert 29°28°27° Andreas Stadler and his international team have found out that the flexibility of haemo- globin in different species depends on their body temperature.