THE BRAIN DETECTIVE

Betina - head of the BioPsych project - doesn’t go to work with a big saw. But she does spend many days cutting brains into very small slices – using a specialized cutter. Read the full story about Betina the brain detective here.

Detective in the human brain

When Betina puts on her white lab coat, grabs a human brain (in the form of small paraffin cubes) and starts slicing, she’s a detective. A detective, who’s trying to find biomarkers – or small molecular signs - for psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

Her goal is clear: She wants to help distinguish between the different disorders and find out how to develop personalized treatments.

Undercover is out-of-date

Now you might think that detectives are all undercover. But Betina’s search for signs is all out in the open. In fact, she will share everything she finds with anyone who’s interested. Why? That’s because her case (or research project, if you like) is part of ODIN.

ODIN is an open collaboration network. Betina has joined the network because she believes that it doesn’t make sense to go undercover and search for signs all on her own. She believes in openness: To make a difference, all detectives must team up and search for signs together. And why not share what they find and help each other solve the case?

Solving the case with special skills

In the ODIN network, Betina has teamed up with other detectives. Both from the university and industry. And this is in fact one of the clues for a successful case in ODIN: Nobody can make it on their own! Everyone must therefore have a strong detective team with different special skills behind them. And ALL clues must be shared openly! Perhaps someone, who’s not on the team, can put all the clues together and solve the case – and we certainly don’t want to miss out on that opportunity.