Professor Christine Holt FMedSci, FRS knew she had solved one of the key puzzles of how brains wire-up, but convincing others was no easy matter.

The Gonville & Caius College Fellow continued to believe in what the science was telling her and steadily pieced together the remarkable story of how nerve cells navigate to exactly the right place in the developing brain. In March 2023, she won the Brain Prize for her ground-breaking discoveries and the impact these will have on health and disease.

“The brain is made up of billions of nerve cells, or neurons, wired together in a highly complex and organised way,” Christine says.

“A single neuron can send out an axon – a tiny electrically active cable – that can be over a metre in length in an adult human. From there it can make stunningly accurate connections with other neurons, and function for more than 80 years.

“It's a formidable feat of cellular navigation and longevity. I’ve spent most of my adult life questioning how this happens.”

Christine remembers the moment when she first saw evidence that proved her ideas were right.

She adds: “Oh my goodness, I thought, we’ve just opened up a whole lot of new biology here. It’s like the oyster diver. Finally, you find the oyster with the pearl in it.”

She tells the University of Cambridge about her journey of discovery – for the full interview, click on this sentence.

Photo credit: Jacqueline Garget/University of Cambridge

A video about Christine Holt

This film is a personal portrait of the three Brain Prize 2023 winners. It describes their upbringing, role models and their motivations for becoming neuroscientists.

Source: The Lundbeck Foundation