A surprising discovery in an FSU research lab is getting worldwide attention. Scientists have created quote "super smeller" mice that could possibly lead to treatments for obesity and diabetes.
FSU neuroscience researcher Debra Ann Fadool and her colleagues have created a mouse with super powers.
We knocked out genetically an ion channel to see what it would do to sense of smell, and when they did, fellow researcher Roger Thompson says the results shook things up a bit.
“In the end analysis, 10,000 more times sensitive to odors we presented and even bigger surprise because when we knockout a gene we expect it to be non-functional,” says Roger Thompson, FSU researcher.
And get this, the super smeller mice could help in the battle of the bulge.
They were skinnier, weigh less, but had the same caloric intake, so they ate as much but were skinnier,” says FSU biophysics researcher Debra Ann Fadool.
With inquiries from all over the world, from media, scientists and pharmaceutical companies. This discovery could also potentially help with diabetes.
We want to take mice that are the model of diabetes and breed them with our mice to see if we can reduce weight and the complications of diabetes.
Fadool says way down the line pharmaceutical companies could possibly create a drug to create similar results in humans.