University Lecturer Mag. Dr Barbara Kofler discovered a previously unidentified protein hormone, set up an international research laboratory and would like to see more men taking paternity leave

The scientific eureka! occurred in the laboratory. Yet Barbara Kofler grasped the full scale of it only later, while driving home from a skiing holiday: the neuropeptide expert discussed her latest research results on the galanin family of neuropeptides located in the human skin with her husband, a dermatologist. Neuropeptides are protein hormones, i.e. neurotransmitters controlled by the brain, swimming through the bloodstream and controlling bodily functions like emotions, addictive behaviour and healing mechanisms in multiple, as yet only partly identified ways. Many research teams around the world currently try to find out how they work. “That would be a revolutionary dermatological discovery”, said her husband, when Barbara Kofler told him about her assumption that neuropeptides of the galanin family might show a healing effect in inflammatory processes in the skin. Ten years have passed since this discussion. Meanwhile, Barbara Kofler has advanced to become an important figure in international neuropeptide research. It is also the objective of the new Laura Bassi Centre headed by her to analyse these protein hormones.

Science is a tradition with Barbara Kofler’s family: her grandmother was one of the first women who studied Medicine and Mineralogy at the beginning of the 20th century. And she was the one who kindled her granddaughter’s passion for research: “I sat on her lap and watched crystals grow and shimmer under the microscope”, Barbara Kofler recalls. Even when she had retired, her grandmother still went to the laboratory and used the microscope there together with her granddaughter. Those moments are etched in Kofler’s memory: “I remember the room exactly, and what it smelled like”, she says. But the men in Barbara Kofler’s family did research, too: her father was a physicist, scientist and inventor; her grandfather was a university professor of pharmacognosy (the study of medicines). Her interest in the natural sciences continued while she was at school, where she showed great talent in experimenting at various chemistry competitions.

Born in Innsbruck, Barbara Kofler studied Chemistry in her hometown. The conditions at the university were rigid and challenging. She mastered numerous setbacks before completing her PhD thesis. When it came to isolating protein molecules, Barbara Kofler proved to be persevering. Later, the young biochemist was awarded an Erwin Schrödinger fellowship and she spent two years researching at the Department for Neurobiology at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia. The local research culture was quite different to that in Austria. The excellent basic training she had received in Innsbruck came in useful when Barbara Kofler acquired a new working method there, working independently and on her own responsibility. The open, straightforward working atmosphere in Australia helped Kofler recognise opportunities and develop her potentials.

Owing to her extensive qualifications, Barbara Kofler was assigned to set up a new research laboratory for pediatric oncology at the Salzburg Children’s Clinic on her return to Austria in 1995. “I stood there in an empty room without staff, but with an appropriate budget to buy molecular biological equipment”, Barbara Kofler remembers. She mastered the rough start by establishing the first molecular biological infection diagnostics laboratory for viral diseases in Salzburg. Until then, the samples had had to be sent to Vienna, which had led to unreasonable waits for the seriously ill. In the course time she managed to expand the laboratory from 16 m2 to 180 m2. At the Salzburg Children’s Clinic, Barbara Kofler not only consolidated her laboratory’s expertise in diagnostics and pediatric oncology but also contributed to establishing muscle diseases as a new focus. This is how the laboratory head combines everyday medical work and science.

Today, Barbara Kofler is in charge of laboratory team made up of 20 members of staff. Her special field is neuropeptide research. A highpoint in Kofler’s scientific career was when she discovered a previously unidentified neuropeptide in 2003. “I kept sifting through the international databases over and over again until I was quite sure that I had really discovered something completely new.” Barbara Kofler called it alarin and has since been analysing its function in the human body. She has found out that the hormone is located in the skin and that it has an anti-inflammatory effect. This is also the Laura Bassi Centre’s point of departure: the objective is to investigate the function of a whole family of neuropeptides with view to their healing potential regarding dermatological and other inflammatory diseases.

In addition to her outstanding talent, her husband’s support in raising their children helped Barbara Kofler’s brilliant scientific career. “I always knew that family management for our son would only work as a joint effort”, says Barbara Kofler. Both she and her husband went on leave for seven months each. “Father and son greatly enjoyed the time”, the highly qualified expert recalls. Barbara Kofler was not deterred by the financial losses the family sustained during that time. “We just tightened the belt.” Kofler suggests that more female researchers follow her example. Female scientists themselves are responsible for effecting equal opportunities, they should be more vigorous about their partners taking paternity leave. “Not only do we need more day-nurseries, we also need more men who are willing to contribute to raising their children.”

Portrait: Teresa Arrieta