The John B. Pierce Laboratory

Animals, from flies to humans, use olfaction to find resources, such as food and mates. How do such different creatures, with such different brains, all share this ability?

Dr. Justus Verhagen, an Associate Fellow at The John B. Pierce Laboratory, along with a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, University of California-Berkeley, Weill Cornell Medical College, the University of Pittsburgh, and New York University Medical Center are working to uncover the algorithmic and mechanistic processes governing this deeply embedded behavior.

This project is one of three funded by a $15M National Science Foundation initiative to unravel the mysteries of olfaction. The awards expand the NSF’s investments in the president’s BRAIN Initiative, and are funded by NSF’s Directorates for Biological Sciences and Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Find out more: odornavigation.org