# Towards Non-invasive Magnetic Control of Cells - A Global Search for Magnetoreceptors

> **NIH NIH R21** · CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2020 · $457,875

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Towards noninvasive magnetic control of cells – a global search for magnetoreceptors
If biological cells could be controlled using magnetic fields, this would enable unprecedented approaches to
basic biology and medicine. Ideally one would want a genetic tool that can render arbitrary cells magnetically
sensitive, a goal now known as “magnetogenetics”. Several attempts to accomplish this by de novo
bioengineering have failed, mainly because magnetic fields interact only weakly with biological molecules. At
the same time we know that certain animal species have the remarkable ability to sense the Earth's magnetic
field and to use this information for orientation and navigation. Thus there must exist nerve cells with the
mechanism to transduce even weak magnetic fields: the magnetoreceptors. If one could find those receptor
neurons, they would reveal a cellular pathway that could be used for magnetic control.
Remarkably the identity and mechanism of magnetoreceptor neurons is still unknown. The approach proposed
here is to first search for neural signals anywhere in the brain that respond to magnetic stimuli. Based on those
signals one can engage a magnetic scanning method to localize where the magnetic responses originate.
Ultimately this will lead to the receptor cells. The first and essential step is to find an unambiguous neuronal
response to magnetic fields in any species.
The research presented here will accomplish this through a collective science project that will coordinate many
laboratories for a short duration. These days scores of research groups are engaged in high-throughput
neuroscience pursuing a broad range of questions in diverse species. Revolutionary improvements in the tools
of neurophysiology enable experiments that routinely record signals from hundreds to thousands of neurons at
a time. The project will transiently engage about 50 of these laboratories in a broad unbiased search for
magnetoreceptors. Building on personal contacts the PI has already secured agreement from an illustrious list
of pilot collaborators to offer experimental time and share data.
The Caltech team will construct electromagnetic stimulators that produce a defined magnetic field and ship
these to each partner lab. The device can be added easily to an ongoing experiment, and a mere 20 minutes
of recording will reveal whether any of the neurons under study carry magnetic signals. The team will collect all
the resulting data and analyze them for magnetic responses. A positive finding will immediately be subject to
independent replication. By the end of the two-year period the project is expected to screen several million
neurons in many different animal species and brain areas for magnetic responses, at least a 100-fold increase
over the cumulative effort to date. If this exploratory research program yields magnetoreceptors in any species,
that will set the stage for future work that unlocks their biophysical mechanisms and ultimately realizes th...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9956509
- **Project number:** 1R21NS116319-01
- **Recipient organization:** CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** MARKUS MEISTER
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $457,875
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2023-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9956509

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9956509, Towards Non-invasive Magnetic Control of Cells - A Global Search for Magnetoreceptors (1R21NS116319-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9956509. Licensed CC0.

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