Co-host
Erik Jorgensen
Dr. Erik Jorgensen is a professor of Biology at the University of Utah, as well as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Dr. Jorgensen studies how the human brain works on a molecular level, using a microscopic worm called C. elegans as the model. The synapses in worms work similarly, and use many of the same genes, as in other organisms - including humans. In one study published in the journal Neuron in 2012, Jorgensen and one of his students, Jaimie White, were able to essentially "flip" the switch of synapses in the brains of female worms to make them sexually attracted to other females.