Apr 28, 2026 05:15 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1125595
KEY POINTS: Scientists have created the first detailed map of smell receptors in the nose, catching up with similar achievements in sight, hearing, and touch. The map reveals that smell receptors are highly organized into tight bands based on type. The findings provide foundational knowledge needed to develop better therapies for loss of smell.
INTRO: For most of us, the sense of smell is an integral part of everyday life; it plays a critical role in providing information about our surroundings, alerting us to potential dangers, enhancing our sense of taste, and evoking emotions and memories.
Yet from a scientific perspective, “olfaction is super-mysterious,” said Sandeep (Robert) Datta, professor of neurobiology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, with basic biological understanding lagging behind that of vision, hearing, and touch.
Working in mice, Datta and his team have now created the first detailed map of how the thousand-plus types of smell receptors in the nose are organized. They discovered that unlike what scientists had long believed, the neurons expressing these receptors have a high degree of spatial organization: They form horizontal stripes based on receptor type from the top of the nose to the bottom.
“Our results bring order to a system that was previously thought to lack order, which changes conceptually how we think this works,” said Datta, senior author of the study. Moreover, the researchers established that the receptor map in the nose matches up with smell maps in the olfactory bulb of the brain, providing clues about how information moves from the nose to the brain.
While the smell map is an exciting discovery in its own right, Datta said, it also provides foundational information that could help scientists develop therapies for loss of smell, which are currently lacking. “We cannot fix smell without understanding how it works on a basic level,” he said. The findings published April 28 in Cell.
Maps have long existed that describe how receptors in the eye, ear, and skin are organized to capture and interpret auditory, visual, and touch information — and scientists have figured how these maps correspond with those inside the brain.
However, “olfaction has been the one exception; it’s the sense that has been missing a map for the longest time,” Datta said. This is in part because... (MORE - no ads)
KEY POINTS: Scientists have created the first detailed map of smell receptors in the nose, catching up with similar achievements in sight, hearing, and touch. The map reveals that smell receptors are highly organized into tight bands based on type. The findings provide foundational knowledge needed to develop better therapies for loss of smell.
INTRO: For most of us, the sense of smell is an integral part of everyday life; it plays a critical role in providing information about our surroundings, alerting us to potential dangers, enhancing our sense of taste, and evoking emotions and memories.
Yet from a scientific perspective, “olfaction is super-mysterious,” said Sandeep (Robert) Datta, professor of neurobiology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, with basic biological understanding lagging behind that of vision, hearing, and touch.
Working in mice, Datta and his team have now created the first detailed map of how the thousand-plus types of smell receptors in the nose are organized. They discovered that unlike what scientists had long believed, the neurons expressing these receptors have a high degree of spatial organization: They form horizontal stripes based on receptor type from the top of the nose to the bottom.
“Our results bring order to a system that was previously thought to lack order, which changes conceptually how we think this works,” said Datta, senior author of the study. Moreover, the researchers established that the receptor map in the nose matches up with smell maps in the olfactory bulb of the brain, providing clues about how information moves from the nose to the brain.
While the smell map is an exciting discovery in its own right, Datta said, it also provides foundational information that could help scientists develop therapies for loss of smell, which are currently lacking. “We cannot fix smell without understanding how it works on a basic level,” he said. The findings published April 28 in Cell.
Maps have long existed that describe how receptors in the eye, ear, and skin are organized to capture and interpret auditory, visual, and touch information — and scientists have figured how these maps correspond with those inside the brain.
However, “olfaction has been the one exception; it’s the sense that has been missing a map for the longest time,” Datta said. This is in part because... (MORE - no ads)