Norbert Jakubowski talks to Laura Howes about childhood experiments, element-omics and what he'd like to learn from Einstein.

Norbert Jakubowski works at the Institute for Analytical Sciences in Dortmund and researches the development of analytical methods for proteomics, especially those using plasma sources. He is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.

 

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

I've always been attracted to flashes, lightning and high voltages. When I was a child of around sixteen years old, I used to generate my own plasmas using the high voltages from my parents' TV. My family did not like these experiments and afterwards, the TV didn't work so well any more!

What motivated you to specialise in atomic spectrometry, and metallomics in particular?

I studied physics at the University of Essen, where plasma physics was the main focus. For my diploma, I had to design an ion source based on plasma and this really got me interested in the field.
My first job for the Institute of Analytical Sciences was to develop ion sources for mass spectrometry, including inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Once we had the prototypes of the ion sources, we used them for analytical problems. 
For example, one of the big problems in Dortmund was the pathway of carcinogenic or toxic metals into the environment. We were able to trace these back to their source, the local steel industry. We then asked ourselves if these species of metal, once deposited, could enter the food chain or be inhaled. As a result, our research moved from environmental to biological applications. We learnt early on that with inorganic mass spectrometry, the high sensitivity could allow us to follow the pathways travelled by the metals.

You use the phrase 'element-omics' when referring to your work. What do you mean by that?

Biomolecules cannot be seen with ICP-MS therefore we need tags on the biomolecules which we can measure. It is not just metals that can act as the tags; semi-metals and halogens can play a role too. This is why I prefer the word element-omics to metallomics. Really what we are doing is nothing other than method development in analytical chemistry, and, of course, these methods can be applied throughout the life sciences.

How does atomic spectrometry help to solve biological problems that other fields cannot?

For us, it is because of the plasma that we use. The plasma is nothing but an extremely hot flame and every sample that is injected into it is completely decomposed, atomised and excited. All information about the molecular structure of the sample is lost, which is a disadvantage. On the other hand, because this process loses the structural information, the sensitivity we achieve for elements is identical for every molecule, which is an improvement on other spectroscopic methods.

If you could solve any scientific problem in any field, what would it be?

I would put all my energy into one and the same problem: energy and water. The future problems of our world will be related to food, water, clean air and energy. A better and fairer distribution of these resources is urgently needed.

Which scientist do you most admire and why?

Albert Einstein. I think I look up to him because of his personality. He was a genius, but also extremely modest. Einstein revolutionised physics with only a deep thought, without a lab, without a professorship, without money. He was a physicist, but did not specialise in a specific topic; he was more universal. To make things easier, to present them as simply as possible and to reduce everything to a common denominator is something we can all learn from him. The secrets of the universe and life look so difficult to understand but they are so perfectly organised and it is our challenge the find the right formula.

If you weren't a scientist, what would you do?

I would become a psycho-analyst. The problem is that there aren't enough quantitative tools in psycho-analysis. Even nowadays, there aren't many instruments to measure what we do, why we do it and how we know who we are. This would be a challenge: psychomics?