What do camalots, fifi hooks, and RURPS have in common with lentiviruses, the amygdala, and glutamate receptors? They’re all part of Gilles Sansig’s vocabulary. When Gilles isn’t using his rock climbing gear to conquer such formidable routes as the 900 m (3,000 ft) Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in California, he’s thinking about the physiology of one of the most fundamental of human emotions – fear.
Gilles is working on animal models of central nervous system (CNS) diseases in Dr. Herman van der Putten’s laboratory in Basel. He’s using lentivirus-derived vectors to overexpress and underexpress genes in mice that may play a role in fear. “Fear is a component of other emotions,” said Gilles, “by studying the brain’s neuronal circuitry that modulates fear, we’ll gain insight into more complex emotions associated with mental disorders that affect a person’s ability to function in society.” Gilles’ goal is to help find new drug targets for the treatment of psychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression. His current focus is on a region of the brain called the amygdala, where he’s studying the role of glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors.
Gilles loves being on the edge of a cliff or on the cutting edge of scientific research. He feels the same satisfaction in reaching the end of a climb as he does in making a scientific discovery. He believes that new approaches to treating diseases can only come from discovery research; a view that is being implemented as standard operating procedures at NIBR. “For scientists to perform at the top level, they must do basic research,” said Gilles, “Then they’ll begin to understand how complex a disease process really is and then find a new way to treat it.”
| 
