UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

CENTER FOR SMELL AND TASTE

UFCST 2007-2008
Chemical Senses Seminar Schedule

Oct. 11 – Robert Margolskee, M.D, Ph.D. (Dept. of Structural and Chemical Biology, Mount Sinai Medical Center) opens the series.  Dr. Margolskee is one of the leading experts in the molecular biology of taste and has been instrumental in identifying key elements of the transduction cascade in taste cells.  Recently, he has demonstrated the presence of taste receptors in the gut.  A must for anyone interested in food, feeding and the regulation of intake, in addition to those interested in the sense of taste.

Nov. 8 – Julie Mennella, Ph.D. (Monell Chemical Senses Center), another leading researcher in the field, returns to the series to present her latest research on the development of food and flavor preferences in humans and the effects of alcohol consumption on women’s health and infant development.  A must for anyone interested in neonatal biology and the onset of food preference in humans, in addition to those interested in the chemical senses. 

Dec. – in lieu of having a Dec speaker, we encourage you instead to plan on attending the Rushton Lectures Symposium 2007 at Florida State University on Dec 1.  The all day symposium will feature talks by six nationally and internationally recognized experts on olfactory and taste coding together with roundtable discussions, and should be a most exciting venue given the continuing controversy as to how the brain codes chemosensory information.  See the November News and Announcements for details of the symposium.  

Jan. 17 – Linda Barlow, Ph.D. (Dept. Cell and Developmental Biology, Univ. Colorado Health Science Center and Rocky Mt. Taste and Smell Center) is one of the emerging stars in our field.  Dr. Barlow studies the neural development of taste as a model to investigate how the peripheral nervous system forms during embryogenesis.  Her work has generated exciting new insight into the origins of taste cells.  A must for all those interested in neural development and regeneration, in addition to those interested in the sense of taste. 

Feb. 21 – Gordon Shepherd, M.D., Ph.D. (Dept. of Neurobiology, Yale Univ. School of Medicine) is a world renowned neuroscientist and author of numerous textbooks in neuroscience whose work epitomizes the long and close association between understanding olfactory information processing and understanding brain function.   His recent work using high resolution fMRI to study the generation of odor maps in the olfactory bulb has led to interesting ideas on smell images and the flavor system in the human brain.  A must for everyone interested in neuroscience, in addition to those interested in olfaction.

Mar. 20 – Hugh Robertson, Ph.D. (Dept. of Entomology, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is one of the leading molecular biologists in the field studying the evolution of G-protein coupled chemoreceptors and related gene families.  Much of his work focuses on the evolution of chemoreceptors mediating olfaction and taste in insects, exploiting the newly available animal genome projects.  A must for those interested in molecular evolution, bioinformatics analysis, and entomology, in addition to those interested in the chemical senses.

April 24 - Stephen Wooding, Ph.D. (The McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) brings yet another perspective to our series. His research focuses on how population history and natural selection have interacted to produce patterns of genetic variation and how information about population history and natural selection can be used to dissect genotype-phenotype correlations.  He has worked on many different genes in many different organisms, including bears, viruses, and even chimpanzees.  His current emphasis on patterns of variability in genes controlling taste perception in humans bridges his diverse interests to the chemical senses.