I lost my heart in Heidelberg "I had great experience studying there“

When, how long and in what position did you stay at Heidelberg University?

It was 22 years ago near the end of 2001 when I was accepted by Prof. Konrad Beyreuther as a PhD degree seeking student working on a research project to investigate an Alzheimer disease related protein - APPBP1 - lead by Dr. Stefan Kins, now a professor at Kaiserslautern University. After receiving my PhD degree “Targeting APPBP1 influences APP metabolism and axonal transportation” in February 2005, I left Heidelberg in early May 2006 for a postdoctoral training in Columbia University (NY, USA).

Why did you decide in favor of Heidelberg University?

As a person studied in the field of medical sciences with a masters degree in pathology, I had been admiring and was curious about a country and its education system that could nurture many Nobel laureates. Heidelberg University in my impression was noted as one of the best universities in Germany, thus the thought to visit it in a possible future was formed in me. In the summer of 2001, I managed to participate a summer language curse provided by Heidelberg University. During the period of participating the German course, I felt very attracted by the quiet mid-aged, literal temperament of the city Heidelberg plus its surroundings of beautiful cozy sized river and mountains. All that made me feel like to explore Heidelberg more and during that period of time I also heard that the Heidelberg University had great reputation in biomedical researches, I thus gave myself a try to look for suitable possibilities to complete a PhD study in Heidelberg instead to go to the US as I planned before I departed my trip to Heidelberg. After several contacts and personal interviews, I successfully gained the chance to join Prof. Beyreuther’s research group.

What do you like best about being in Heidelberg? What suggestions would you have for improvements?

As I previously mentioned, as a famous university town, I love the literal temperament of the small town and the easy accessible nearby mountains, river views and cozy walk ways that linked them for nature lovers. For my study there, I had great supports from all the group members that had crossed time being around. Prof. Beyreuther was a very knowledgeable and warm person, although he was terribly busy in various duties and often not being around, he managed well to respond inquires from group members and always tried his best to provide help he could get managed. I had a great experience studying there and that study helped me to form a solid foundation to pass working obscures in the field of neuroscience researches.

How did your career continue after your time in Heidelberg?

After completed my study with Prof. Beyreuther, I left Heidelberg at early May 2006 for a postdoctoral training at Columbia University (NY, USA). The project there that worked on synaptic vesicles formation was very attractive however it didn’t run as well as my mentor Prof. Gilbert De Paolo and I expected. Thus ~2 years later in early March 2008, I decided to join another group in Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (MPIH) in Frankfurt, Germany to work on a project related to the ATP receptor / ion channel P2X7 in Prof. Heinrich Betz’s group. Working there helped me to build up all fundamental bases for later work on noceiceptive progressions and regulations relative to the ion channel P2X7. By the end of 2009, for family reasons, I left the work within MPIH and returned back to Taiwan. In March 2010, I joined Dr. Bai-Chuang Shyu’s group as a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at Academia Sinica, Taiwan, to pick up a new project that aimed to investigate roles of P2X7 in chronic and acute pain progression, sensation, regulation and transmission. With all the trainings starting from Heidelberg, Columbia and MPIH-Frankfurt, I earned several publications and awards in the field of pain / neuroscience researches. At the beginning of 2021, I received promotion there to become a Special Project Investigator.

What is your view of the German scientific system in comparison to that of your home country or to that of other countries where you may have conducted research?

My experience in Germany has 2 places, ZMBH in Heidelberg and MPIH in Frankfurt. Although I couldn’t tell they were all excellent in every condition, a notably and very useful point to me was that the well organized structure of supporting systems / offices and facilities for laboratory needs were really great, made a very comfortable environment for researchers to focus on absorbing and building study ideas and be less hesitating to try certain complicated approaches which wasn’t built in a group but could be provided by surrounding groups or institutional supporting system/ facilities. I myself very appreciated the support from the ZMBH laboratory and other facilities when I was conducting my PhD study with Prof. Beyreuther. I was amazed and still appreciate the very open minded atmosphere and sharing and providing equipment for those who needed it.

In your opinion, what is the importance of international exchanges for researchers?

I strongly believe that, for researchers, having more opportunities to exchange their own experiences with other researchers is very important and always a beneficial thing to not only the involved persons but also to the related field of studies. Knowledge increases rapidly nowadays, lots of previously settled concepts get advancing changes because of new discoveries with new technologies and improvement of research training. Scientific research has its unique meaning that needs to be up to date, the newer the better and the more useful to society, it’s likely not possible for any single researcher to cover all related knowledge and run out all investigations by a single group, so opportunities for researchers to share and hence exchange their own work with others can truly facilitate practical improvement to related fields of research.

Do you recommend a research visit to Heidelberg University to your students or to colleagues in your scientific network?

Overall speaking, my personal working experiences during my time spent in Heidelberg were very positive. I am sure I will highly recommend colleagues and students to choose Heidelberg for all kinds of visits, advancing degree seeking studies, exchange programs or possible practical collaborations. 

What is your opinion of the opportunities made available through the Research Alumni Network? Have you taken advantage of any of these opportunities yet? If yes, please elaborate.

I myself just found out about the existence of the Research Alumni Network some months ago, and due to currently being very busy I haven’t updated myself in the system yet. I would like to build a connection among my previous colleagues who were doctors or students then and now working in bio research, biotech or pharmaceutical companies still, wishing the previously built attachment from shared time in Heidelberg may help initiating information exchange that might help each other in a way when needed.