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When we’re talking about brain cells, we tend to give neurons all the credit,
to the point that you might actually hear people use “neuron”
as a synonym for “brain cell”.
But there are actually at least two types of brain cells: neurons and non-neurona
cells called glia, and our focus on neurons is just favoritism, pure and simple.
And a lot of what we now know about glia comes from work done
at one research lab at Stanford University led by neurobiologist Ben Barres.
There are at least three different kinds of glial cells:
astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia.
Neurons and glia were identified around the same time,
but neurons got all the attention in part because of the tools and trends of the time.
See, starting in the late 1700s, physicians started learning
about electrical currents conducted by nerve cells.
And neurons send electrical messages, but glia don’t.
They figured that if that’s the case, then the neurons must be doing all work,
and glia must just be there for support.
So glia were considered to be the “connective tissue” of the brain,
basically packing peanuts providing physical support to the neurons.
But it turns out that glia aren’t just neurons' biggest supporters.
They do a ton of really important stuff of their own.
Oligodendrocytes make up the myelin sheath, the layer of insulation
around neurons that allows electrical signals to be sent extra quickly.
Microglia are the immune cells of the central nervous system.
They fight off bacteria and viruses,
and they remove cellular garbage to let damaged brain tissue heal.
And then there are astrocytes.
These little babies are stars.
No, really. They got their name because of their star shape.
Even after researchers began discovering the functions of oligodendrocytes
and microglia, they held on to the belief that astrocytes
were just structural helpers that didn’t really do anything.
In the 1980s, Barres developed a procedure to purify isolated glial cells,
which helped open the door to study them in ways that weren’t possible before.
Being able to study purified cells led him to the realization that astrocytes and
oligodendrocytes actually have both ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors.
These are parts of a cell membrane that trigger the cell to do something
if they meet up with the right molecule.
In neurons, that’s often sending an electrical signal.
But glial cells don’t send electrical messages.
Instead, they send chemical messages to nearby neurons and other glial cells.
Those messages are critically important to the formation
of the connection points between neurons, called synapses.
In fact, Barres discovered that without astrocytes, synapses don’t form at all.
And without properly formed synapses,
a neuron is unable to communicate with other cells.
And without the ability to communicate, a neuron is useless.
He also discovered the specific molecules released
by astrocytes that allow synapses to develop and function.
And on the other side of the synapse lifecycle,
he discovered that astrocytes also play a role in destroying unused synapses,
both by themselves and by teaming up with microglia.
Barres’s lab also discovered that astrocytes may kill
injured neurons and play a role in neurodegenerative disorders.
Many of these discoveries happened because Ben Barres
had a knack for looking at what had previously been overlooked.
Not just when thinking about scientific questions,
but also when thinking about scientists.
See, Barres was transgender.
When he began his career in the 1970s, he presented as a woman.
And he saw exactly how problematic the culture of science was
when it came to gender representation after he transitioned in 1997.
He had experienced life in science as someone perceived
as a woman and as a man, and saw how differently he was treated.
He describes a time in a computer science course where he solved
a particularly difficult problem, and the professor assumed he cheated and had
his boyfriend solve it, because it was impossible for a woman to get the answer.
And in a class he taught after he transitioned,
someone in the room commented that his work was much better than his sister’s.
That other work was also his, just under his previous name.
Which is why, in addition to his groundbreaking work on glial cells that earned him
a spot as the first openly transgender member of the
National Academy of Sciences, he was also a passionate advocate
for gender equality in the sciences.
As an openly transgender man, he saw a position for himself
as a role model and representation for other LGBTQ+ scientists.
He was also famous for dropping five-minute interludes into the middle of his
scientific conference presentations on glia,
to talk about gender equality once he already had a captive audience.
Unfortunately, Barres died from pancreatic cancer in 2017.
When he did, the scientific world lost not just one of the most impactful figures in
our understanding of glial cells, but one of the loudest voices
in the conversation about gender equality.
Because Ben Barres knew that diverse scientists have diverse perspectives,
and giving everyone a seat at the table makes science better.
Those perspectives can inspire scientists to look at old problems in new ways,
and find value in the questions that few people are asking at all.
Now, one of the ways we could diversify the group of researchers
trying to solve the world’s problems is to lessen the barriers to entry.
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