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Revolutionary research: How smells influence our behavior!
Dr. Thomas Frank from the University of Göttingen will receive 360,000 euros for research into the brain mechanisms of smell perception.
Revolutionary research: How smells influence our behavior!
Dr. Thomas Frank, a neuroscientist at the University of Göttingen, today received significant project funding from the Schram Foundation. This financial support of €360,000 over three years will enable him to advance research on the “Cellular mechanisms and brain-wide circuits of chemosensory valence coding”. The aim of the project is to investigate the influence of smells on behavior and the emotional evaluation of smells in the brain. Dr. Frank emphasizes that understanding the evaluation mechanisms for pleasant or unpleasant smells is of great importance.
A central concern is the impairment of smell perception, for example in disorders such as parosmia. This disease can significantly reduce the quality of life and impair the warning function of the sense of smell. By using zebrafish as a model organism, new insights into odor processing in the brain will be gained. The long-term goal of the research is to improve the treatment of such disorders.
Research funding and institutions
The Schram Foundation has been supporting science and research in the fields of medicine and neuroscience since 2004. Dr. Frank conducts his studies in collaboration with the European Neuroscience Institute (ENI), a collaboration between the University Medical Center Göttingen and the Max Planck Society. Such collaboration is essential to shed more light on complex questions in neuroscience and to develop innovative approaches to research.
In parallel to these developments, new technologies have been introduced in biochemistry that improve the mechanisms of cellular perception of mechanical signals. A new method makes it possible to quantify intracellular forces of a few billionths of a Newton (piconewton). The technology is based on a molecular force sensor consisting of fluorescent proteins and a molecular spring. This could also be important for research in the field of olfactory perception, as mechanobiology may play a role in how cells function.
Technological advances in biochemistry
The novel force sensors respond to mechanical forces between 1 and 12 pN and can be genetically introduced into cells. Talin, an adhesion molecule, plays a crucial role in detecting tissue stiffness and has already provided important insights in experiments with zebrafish. This technology promises to provide deeper insights into the complex intracellular mechanisms and could therefore also expand research on olfactory information.
The technical innovation makes it possible to measure several force sensors within a cell at the same time, which could significantly improve the understanding of cellular mechanobiological processes. In the context of chemosensory research, this can help decipher the complex relationships between mechanical and chemical signals in the brain.
Dr. Thomas Frank's project is not only an advance for neuroscience, but also an example of the important role of interdisciplinary approaches in medical research. Exploring olfactory perception and its influence on behavior could reveal groundbreaking insights.