Researchers at Georgia State University may have published the scientific understatement of the year when saying that their CRISPR experiment with ham

Scientists Gene Hack Hamsters Into Hyper-Aggressive Monsters

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2022-05-18 07:00:03

Researchers at Georgia State University may have published the scientific understatement of the year when saying that their CRISPR experiment with hamsters “found that the biology behind social behavior may be more complex than previously thought.”

Using the revolutionary gene editing tech, the GSU neuroscience team discovered that knocking out a receptor of vasopressin — a hormone associated with aggression, communication, and social bonding in both humans and hamsters — instead seemed to supercharge the cute rodents’ worst instincts.

“We anticipated that if we eliminated vasopressin activity, we would reduce both aggression and social communication,” GSU neuroscience researcher H. Elliott Albers said in a statement. “But the opposite happened.”

The statement that the scientists specifically chose Syrian hamsters, which are known for their aggression, because they “provide a powerful model for the studies of social behavior because their social organization is far more similar to humans than that observed in mice.”

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