Biophysical Society Bulletin | April 2018

Biophysicist in Profile

Sebastian Brauchi Areas of Research Protein structure and ion channel biophysics

Institution Universidad Austral de Chile

At-a-Glance

Sebastian Brauchi is Associate Professor in the Physiology Institute at Universidad Austral de Chile. His research focuses on protein structure and ion channel biophysics. Science is one of his three main passions in life; his biggest challenge over the years has been, he says, “to combine parenthood, rock climbing, and the lab, as all are different aspects of the same individual, needed to give meaning to my life.”

Sebastian Brauchi

From his earliest days, Sebastian Brauchi , Associate Professor in the Physiology Institute at Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh), has been brimming with curiosity. He grew up in a house full of books and intellectual stimulation in Quilpué, a small town in the central region of Chile, close to the coastal city of Valparaíso. His father, Don Adolfo , was an electrical en- gineer and his mother, Anita , was a school teacher; both en- couraged his exploration. “My father had a magnifying glass he used for his stamp collection. When I was around eight years old I often used it to observe insects and take notes — that is the first scientific behavior I remember,” he shares. “I have a strong inclination for the mechanics of things, how to make something function. Meccano and Legos were an important part of my childhood; as a kid I spent countless hours building things.” In high school, he learned that humans and other living things operated in much the same way as his Meccano toys: “We lifeforms are no more than big Meccanos made out of other minute Meccanos and Lego pieces, motors and hinges connecting structural scaffolds,” he says. From then on he was interested in figuring out how things work. Brauchi’s father put him in a basic course on programming when he was ten, and got him a computer. “There I learned basic coding and the capacity of that machine to calculate complex things. I’m a very practical person, so making calcula- tions turned out to be boring, but once I realized and gave the real value to peripherals — to the fact that computers could get and deliver voltage signals to make things happen — that was a different story. The computer was disassembled within a week, as I tried to figure out how to make the board control a step motor,” he says. “The circuitry was too complex for me and the computer never worked again, but the interesting thing was that my dad encouraged the behavior and helped me to go further by giving me a book on basic electronics. Since then, I’m never afraid of breaking anything as long as that act represents the possibility of acquiring knowledge.” He attended a series of private Catholic schools in his child- hood and teenage years — “I never had the spirit to follow

the rules, I guess,” he jokes. “After years of annually changing classmates and teachers, I graduated in 1992. Never under- estimate irony: Completely disregarding my previous experi- ences and for reasons beyond my comprehension, I went to study biochemistry at the Catholic University in Valparaíso.” He dropped out after three years and dedicated himself to rock climbing. “After years of absence and motivated by my personal bankruptcy, I went back and finally graduated in 2001 under the supervision of Juan G. Reyes , my first mentor,” he explains.

Brauchi with his family.

Brauchi then worked in the lab of Dale Benos at the University of Alabama - Birmingham for a short time before returning to Chile at Benos’s advice to work with Ramon Latorre in ion channel biophysics. Latorre was director of Centro de Estu- dios Cientificos, a private research institution, where Brauchi performed his graduate research. He finished his PhD in molecular and cellular biology in 2006. “Ramoncito’s passion for ion channels was really sticky, and his sparkling personality was interesting enough to make me forget my previous interests. In retrospect, all around being with Ramon

April 2018

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