University of Florida Center for Smell and Taste

Animal behavioral research

Through partnering with the Department of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Genetics Institute, the Center is addressing the growing urgency for sophisticated animal psychophysical testing driven by the increased use of genetically engineered animals in biomedical research, including research in the chemical senses. We plan to create an integral behavioral testing facility to psychophysically evaluate chemosensory function in animals that have genetically or otherwise manipulated nervous systems.

Human and clinical research

Through partnering with the Department Otolaryngology and other departments in the College of Medicine, the College of Dentistry, the Cancer Center, the Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Studies, the Comprehensive Center for Pain Research, the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and the McKnight Brain Institute, as well as with the Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, the Center is addressing the important need to better measure, understand and ultimately try to correct taste and olfactory dysfunction in humans.

Bioengineering research

Through partnering with the University’s new Nanoscience Institute for Medical and Engineering Technology, the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering, the Center plans to address the growing demand for chemical biosensors for clinical, industrial, and defense applications by developing electronic noses-on-a-chip based on biological principles for odor detection and recognition.

Future Research Initiatives

The Center plans to add new research initiatives as interest and resources allow. One especially promising initiative is studying changes in the senses of smell and taste as we age in conjunction with university’s Institute on Aging. Other promising initiatives arise from the potential for chemical senses research to contribute to the university’s new Emerging Pathogens Initiative, for example to study nasal delivery of vaccines to the brain and the use of insect pheromones to control mosquito- and tick-borne diseases.