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COLUMBIA | Lomvardas Lab

From left: Elizabeth Vargas, Beau Lotto, Anil Seth, Christine Constantinople, Donald Hoffman and Stavros Lomvardas (Credit: World Science Festival / Greg Kessler)

ZI News: Is Reality an Illusion? At the World Science Festival, Experts Reveal the Power, and Peculiarities, of the Brain’s Ability to Sense the World

June 06, 2019

Figure 1 | Role of interchromosomal interactions in the expression of olfactory-receptor genes. — Mammals rely on hundreds of olfactory-receptor genes to identify odours. These genes are grouped in clusters that are present on most chromosomes. Most clusters are associated with a regulatory region called a Greek island. a, b, Monahan et al.3 show that, in stem cells (a), the clusters of olfactory-receptor genes are dispersed, but that in the immediate progenitors of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) (b), these clusters and their Greek islands form an aggregate (red dotted circle) in which gene expression is repressed. c, They further show that, in mature OSNs, the recruitment of the LHX2–LDB1 protein complex (not shown) by Greek islands leads to the formation of a distinct interchromosomal hub (blue dotted circle), where the Greek islands collectively activate and maintain the expression of a single olfactory-receptor gene per cell. (Adapted from Extended Data Fig. 10 of ref. 3.)

Nature News and Views: Chromosomes come together to help mice distinguish odours

January 09, 2019

A study shows that a multi-chromosomal hub assembles in mouse olfactory neurons to ensure that only one odour-sensing receptor is expressed in each neuron — a feature essential to odour discrimination.

A section of the olfactory epithelium. Cells that express a single specific olfactory receptor gene (Olfr17) are in green and DNA, which labels the nucleus of every cells, is blue. Because of the random choice, cells expressing Olfr17 are scattered throughout the tissue (Credit: Kevin Monahan & Adan Horta/Lomvardas lab/Columbia's Zuckerman Institute).

ZI News: Genes on the Move Help Nose Make Sense of Scents

January 09, 2019

Armed with advanced genomic tools, Columbia scientists have uncovered an ingenious mechanism that underlies the brain’s ability to distinguish different smells.