Vancouver, a port city with a mild climate, is the ideal environment for rats to call home, especially in the Downtown Eastside.

One UBC based group of researchers is using the negative for a positive, studying the effects of humans cohabiting with rats and looking toward solutions to improve the inevitable living arrangement.

The Vancouver Rat Project began in 2011 and has been collecting important data ever since, even bringing VANDU (the Vancouver Network of Drug Users in the Downtown Eastside) on board for front line feedback.

The Pulse's Jordan Kawchuck spoke to Kaylee Byers, co-founder of the Vancouver Rat Project, about what it means for us to live amongst rats.