A little glimpse into my research projects...

 I took this pic today of something that I will be working on for the next couple months....

 It's called an olfactometer....and was recently built by a mechanical engineer at the lab. It is used to condition mice to respond to certain odors. This conditioning is then used in various experiments.

Mice that are missing the Kv1 gene are "super" smellers as opposed to mice that have the gene. Along with a heightened sense of smell, they have a ridiculously fast metabolism and don't get fat even when fed only a high fat diet.


Here is a pic of something that I've been working on since May....

Axonal projections from P2- and M72-expressing olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) to the olfactory bulb of wild-type and Kv1.3-null mice.
I have the fun job of counting those neurons :) They are easier to see in sections on the slides though...This is what it looks like before they are sectioned.

Summary: 
Scientists have pretty much located a gene that has shown a direct link to obesity and genetics. Mice were bred without the gene and these mice could be fed high fat diets and still remain thin, whereas the regular wild type mice (with the gene) become morbidly obese.
There is also evidence suggesting that the regular mice that were fed high fat diets had a decrease in the number of their neurons, whereas the Kv1 null mice have the "normal" amount.

They have located a human population that has higher than average number of people missing this gene...and in a few years, I'm sure that we will get some data showing whether this carries over to humans also.