Profile: Eric Kandel

Eric Kandel is an American neuropsychiatrist, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Columbia University, and a recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and colloquially known as one of the 'Founding Fathers of Neuroscience'. My encounters with Dr.Kandel had always been through my classes and textbooks and quirky anecdotes from my undergraduate research mentor, who was a postdoctoral fellow in the Kandel Lab (for fans of Neurotree, I guess that makes Dr.Kandel my scientific grandfather!). Three years after I first came across his name, I met Eric Kandel at my graduate school interview at Columbia University. With his characteristic bow-tie, flyaway hair and Brooklyn accent, Dr.Kandel makes an unforgettable first impression. He was present at a reception during the interview weekend, and prospective students (myself included) were clamoring over each other to get the chance to talk to him. With admirable ease, Dr.Kandel made his way around the room introducing himself to students, talking about everything from the weather and science to the movie that was made depicting his journey to Neuroscience (In Search of Memory). When he finally came around to the small table I was standing at with a few of my fellow interviewees, I remember my throat sticking as I introduced myself and almost dropping my drink when he laughed at a passing comment (those who have met or heard Dr.Kandel talk will know that he has a very distinct laugh that gives the impression that he is choking on a rather large object. My roommate actually does a remarkably accurate impression). We talked briefly about my undergraduate mentor, and then with a benign pat on my shoulder, he excused himself to move on to the next group of interviewees. Predictably, I hurriedly pulled out my phone and texted my friend and made the appropriate update to my Facebook status. 

My second encounter with Dr.Kandel was a few weeks ago when he visited UCSF; my fellow graduate students and I were lucky to have a very candid discussion (once we got past the awkward pregnant pauses) with him. The talk was titled "Animal Models of Neurological Disorders", but he ended up talking about his life, how he got into science, and his views on the world of biomedical research today. I thought I'd share some of what he recounted to us rather than focus on his research; his life story is not only fascinating, but also gave us some interesting insights into the journey of becoming a scientist: how historical, cultural and personal circumstances can affect one's entry into science, the challenges one faces as a graduate student, and the importance of risk-taking, creativity and collaboration in scientific research.  

Eric Kandel was born in Vienna, Austria to middle-class Jewish parents, in November 1929, eleven years after the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed following its defeat in World War I. Dr.Kandel described to us, that even at a young age, he recognized the cultural richness of Vienna, which was home to some of the greatest intellectuals such as psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, writer and doctor Arthur Schnitzler, painter Gustav Klimt among many others. Many of these intellects were Austrian Jews, and they flourished despite the early traces of anti-semitism. This however changed after the Anschluss in 1938, and Dr.Kandel noted that this "final flowering of the Austrian Jewish intellectual activity" greatly shaped his early childhood. He even gave us a glimpse into the early violence against Jews. He explained to us that the one year he experienced under Nazi rule influenced his later interests in the mind, the unpredictable nature of human behavior and motivation, and the persistence of memory. 

Dr.Kandel and his family fled Austria right before the outbreak of World War II and arrived in the United States in April 1939. His family settled in Brooklyn, where he attended elementary school and later Erasmus Hall High School. He explained to us that his high school history teacher at the time- John Campagna, a Harvard University alumnus- encouraged him to apply to Harvard for college and he was one of two students from his graduating class to be admitted. He joined Harvard in 1948 with the intent of studying European intellectual history, although he sheepishly admitted to us that his "path was changed by love". As we all chuckled, he hastily explained that this was not the woman he married, but a woman who had a powerful impact on his future nonetheless- Anna Kris. Anna had also emigrated from Vienna with her parents, Ernst and Marianne Kris who were influential psychoanalysts. Frequent interactions with Anna and her family swayed his interests from history to psychoanalysis and thus began his study of the mind. 

Pacing around the room, he continued his narration: in order to solidify his study of the mind, he enrolled in medicine school at NYU Medical School in 1952, where he interacted with three influential psychoanalysts -Lawrence Kubie, Mortimer Ostow, and Syndney Margolin, who introduced him to the biology of the mind. Keen on finding more about the biological basis of mental processes, he decided to join Harry Grundfest's lab at Columbia University. Grundfest had made significant contributions to the field of neurophysiology, and was one of the only neurobiologists in the New York area at the time. In  Grundfest's lab, Dr.Kandel told us he learned the value of electrophysiological techniques and the importance of having a good preparation to test hypotheses. This is in fact where Dr.Kandel's interest in invertebrate neurobiology began (this would later lead him to his favored model system- the Aplysia). Grundfest nominated Dr.Kandel for a position at the NIH in Bethesda, which fortunately excluded him from being drafted into the military during the years following the Korean War. 

"I couldn't have joined the NIH at a better time" Dr.Kandel explained to us. There had been many breakthroughs in the field of neurosciences. Researchers including Wade Marshall had characterized a topographical map of sensory inputs from the body surface in the somatosensory cortex of the brain. Also at this time, Brenda Milner and William Scoville had described the now famous patient H.M. These findings in the field pushed Dr.Kandel to the study of learning and memory and during his time at the NIH, Dr.Kandel began looking for the perfect model system to study the neurobiology of learning. At the same time that Dr.Kandel joined Wade Marshall's lab, a budding post doctoral fellow Alden Spencer also joined with similar interests in the neurobiology of learning. Together, they decided to use the hippocampus, a neuronal structure that we now know to be essential for learning and memory, as their model system. At this point in   his story, Dr.Kandel interjected some advice: "It is important to take risks in your scientific career, but also know when to listen to others around you, especially those are more experienced". And that's exactly what happened with Dr.Kandel and Spencer; they were what Dr.Kandel described as "brash and naive" but  their risky experiments caught the interest of more experienced scientists around them and they were able to contribute some information about the physiological properties and wiring of neurons in the hippocampus.  


While his work on the hippocampus was enlightening, Dr.Kandel continued to look for a simpler model to investigate the neurobiology of memory; he believed that in a simpler circuit of neurons he could probe the actual cellular changes that occur as a result of learning. While looking for his ideal model system, Dr.Kandel told us that he faced some harsh criticisms from some very established neuroscientists (including John Eccles) for wanting to move away from mammals. He however stood by his rationale that "any insight into the modification of behavior by experience, no matter how simple the animal or the task, would prove to be highly informative". Dr.Kandel took his search with him through his residency at Harvard and a postdoctoral fellowship in Paris at Ladislav Tauc's lab, where he was first introduced to the Aplysia, the giant marine snail. The rest, as they say, is history. Dr.Kandel's work on the Aplysia characterized the neurobiology underlying the now famous gill-withdrawal reflex and introduced concept such as 'short-term memory', 'long-term memory' and sensitization, while describing the cellular basis of these phenomena. These initial studies formed the basis of learning and memory research that would later find many pioneers spread all over the world. 


Dr.Kandel was an exceptional narrator, and hearing about his journey from the perspective of a new, impressionable graduate student was a very enlightening experience. It gave me a lot of insight into how much of one's interest in science is circumstantial and made me appreciate the fact that we are surrounded by so many great scientists at UCSF who are invested in our training. When asked what advice he had for us, Dr.Kandel simply said "Never stop asking questions. And don't be afraid to take risks". With one last guttural chuckle, he ended his talk and I think all of my fellow graduate students and I left feeling a little wiser.