With Hybrid Brains, These Mice Smell Like a Rat
At CUIMC, we are committed to continuous improvement in providing culturally inclusive medical education and clinical care.
If mice ever wonder what it’s like to experience the world as a rat, some are now able to live that dream, at least when it comes to the sense of smell.
Researchers led by Columbia’s Kristin Baldwin have created mice with hybrid brains—part mouse, part rat—that sense the odors of the world with their rat neurons.
It is the first time that an animal has been able to use the sensory apparatus of another to sense and respond accurately to the world and is one indication of how flexible the brain can be in integrating outside brain cells.
“This research is starting to show us how we can expand the flexibility of a brain so that it can accommodate other kinds of inputs, from human-machine interfaces or transplanted stem cells,” says Baldwin, professor of genetics & development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and in the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative.
One of the biggest challenges in understanding and treating diseases of the human brain is that it is impossible to fully understand these disorders with current research methods.
