Cracking the Code of ‘What the Nose Knows’

Mice rely on odors to find mates, avoid predators, identify food sources, and recognize their own pups. Yet how those crucial scents are organized — and understood by the brain — has remained mysterious. A recent study published in Cell, jointly led by Senior Fellows Catherine Dulac (pictured left), Xander University Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Xiaowei Zhuang (pictured right), David B. Arnold Jr. Professor of Science in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, created the most comprehensive map to date of how the primary olfactory system detects and organizes social and predator odors. 

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Center graphic is courtesy of Bogdan Bintu, Ph.D. ’21/Dulac Lab, Zhuang Lab