Presenting Author The University of Texas at Dallas
The ability to correctly identify food is critical to survival. Smell is a primary tool used by many animals to find food, yet much is still unknown about the process. Our research is aimed at uncovering the neural circuits that drive food odor detection. We used optogenetic manipulations, a variety of behavioral assays, and immunostaining to study food odor detection in fruit flies. Our results indicate that food odor detection involves both learned and innate components; challenging the notion that food odor detection is wholly innate.
This project was completed in Dr. Hattoris lab at UT Southwestern Medical Center
