UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

CENTER FOR SMELL AND TASTE

UFCST 2009-2010
Chemical Senses Seminar Schedule

2009:

September 10 – Dr. Dennis Drayna, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, NIH, NIDCD

Dr. Drayna opens the series.  He is a leading expert in identifying genetic variation in the molecular components of human communication, including the genes responsible for deficits in the sense of taste and the speech disorder of stuttering.

October 8 – Dr. Dale ‘Matt’ Wachowiak, Dept. of Biology, Boston University

Dr. Wachowiak is one of our own, having received his PhD in Neuroscience from UF.  He is interested in understanding olfactory coding and synaptic processing in the mammalian olfactory bulb, using real time imaging and electrophysiological approaches.

November 5 – Dr. Charles Luetje, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami School of Medicine

            Dr. Luetje is a leader in understanding the structural basis of odorant ligand recognition and odorant receptors.  He brings a variety of molecular biological, electrophysiological and computational techniques to bear on the question.

December 3 – Dr. Rachel Wilson, Dept. of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

            Dr. Wilson is interested in understanding how olfactory and gustatory stimuli are encoded in the brain. Her work focuses on the relatively simple, genetically tractable brain of the fruitfly, using electrophysiological approaches in combination with targeted genetic manipulations to understand how chemosensory signals are processed.  

2010:

January 21 – Dr. Debra Fadool, Dept. of Biology, Florida State University

            Dr. Fadool is another one of our own, having received her PhD in Zoology from UF.  She studies the modulation of ion channel function, focusing on the ability of hormones and neurotrophins to modulate ion channels in the olfactory bulb that lead to disruption of odor-driven behavior. 

February 18 – Dr. Leslie Kay, Dept. of Psychology and the Institute for Mind and Biology, University of Chicago

Dr. Kay integrates experimental and dynamical modeling approaches to better understand how connectivity between brain regions allows context, perceptual history, learning, and physiological state to interact during sensory, especially olfactory, perception.

March 18 – Dr. Piali Sengupta, Dept. of Biology, Brandeis University

           Dr. Sengupta uses molecular genetic approaches to study the molecules, signaling pathways and neuronal circuits through which an animal responds to its chemosensory environment, including how memory of past experience modifies the animal’s response.  She studies the model organism, C. elegans.

April 20 – Open