1

NEWSLETTERc copyright

AChemSAssociation forChemoreception SciencesFostering Chemical Senses Research and Understanding Smell and Taste in Health and Disease

As president-elect last year, I had thepleasure of leading the awardscommittee through the daunting

task of selecting the winners of many ofAChemS’ awards from among an impres-sive array of nominees. This year as presi-dent I am delighted to be working with anenergetic and insightful ExecutiveCommittee, which includes President-Elect Diego Restrepo, Past-PresidentChuck Derby, Program Chair TreseLeinders-Zufall, Program Chair-Elect TomFinger, Secretary Scott Herness, andTreasurer Mike Michel, Councilors LindaBarlow and Pam Dalton, and MembershipChair Nancy Rawson. Mike Meredith hascontinued to lead the Industrial LiasionCommittee and Claire Murphy theClinical Relations Committee with vigor,and Debi Fadool has continued to be amost creative and energetic advisor onmany AChemS activities. It has been anexciting year, with a number of importantissues to face.

Federal Funding and Scientific AdvocacyAt a time when biomedical research holdsunmatched promise to improve thehuman condition, the NIH budget is flat-tening and is creating a situation none ofus imagined: the payline at NIH is lowerthan it was in the early nineties and isexpected to get worse before it gets better.One can argue that in lean times the bestof the best research will still be funded –but our peer review system isn’t designedto distinguish excellence (and predict suc-cess) with the fineness of grain needed toensure that … Furthermore, tight finan-cial times can push us to fund the science

that shows the most short-term promisefor clinical impact – leaving behind theimportant base of research upon whichtranslational breakthroughs will alwaysdepend.

Scientific societies can play an importantrole in advocating for good research, prop-erly funded. This year, Diego and I havedeveloped a small federal liaison groupcomposed of several members of the exec-utive and long-range planning commit-tees. The group includes Charlie Greerand Michael Leon as well as the two of us,and we will work in close communicationwith Barry Ache and John Ngai who sit onCouncil and can advise us of currentevents and trends. We all welcome yoursuggestions as we actively engage withNIH’s Center for Scientific Review,NIDCD’s Director of the Taste and SmellProgram Barry Davis, and NIDCDDirector Jim Battey.

Changes at L & L Management ServicesPlease join me in congratulating TishaKehn, L&L’s team leader for AChemS,who was recently promoted to the positionof 2nd Vice President of L&L and is nowExecutive Director of AChemS. LoriAnderson, who is L&L’s Vice Presidentand used to be our Executive Director,assures us that Tisha will continue to beour primary contact at L&L, attending toall of the organizational aspects of ourannual meetings and supporting the activ-ities of the AChemS Executive Committeeyear ‘round.

New websiteTisha and her staff at L&L have been

working diligently on a new website forour society. They are moving to a newwebmaster, and to save on costs are doingmuch of the required data conversionthemselves. A major new feature of thewebsite will be convenient e-commercecapabilities for payment of dues and annu-al meeting fees. The site is now live andwe know you will help us to identifyunforeseen problems as they arise. I thankTisha for her hard work on this project.

President’s Message continued on page 2

Message from the PresidentLeslie Tolbert, PhD

Spring 2007

THIS ISSUE INCLUDES

• Pictures from AChemS XXVIII

• AChemS 2006 Awardees

• AChemS 2007 Election Results

• Job listings

2006 Newly ElectedAChemS Officers

Peter Brunjes, PhD, President-electNirupa Chaudhari, PhD, CouncilorCarol Christensen, PhD, TreasurerDon Wilson, PhD,ProgramChair Elect

226 Total votes were counted.

Message from President (continued)We will soon need to appoint a newExecutive Editor for Chemical Senses, toreplace Barry Ache, as well as three mem-bers of the Editorial Board. It’s not toolate to suggest good replacements!

For your information, AChemS appointstwo of the five Executive Editors of thejournal. Others are appointed by ECROand by JASTS. In 2006, Susan Traversgraciously replaced David Smith as anAChemS Executive Editor, and the othercurrent Executive Editors are Drs. RobynHudson and R.A. Steinbrecht from ECROand Dr. Hideto Kaba from JASTS. We allowe Barry a very special thank you for hisdedicated and effective service as ExecutiveEditor since 1999.

Let me also remind you that last summer,Oxford University Press made available thecomplete archive of Chemical Senses arti-cles. AChemS members who have activat-ed their online access to Chemical Sensescan find the complete online archive

2

(over 3 million pages!) by visitinghttp://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/archive/.We are grateful to Claire Bird at OUP forthis and for continuing her efforts to havethe archive available on PubMed.

Site of Future MeetingsWe are quickly outgrowing the HyattSarasota, and efforts to identify a new meet-ing site have a new urgency. Taking intoaccount membership polls that consistentlyhave indicated a strong desire to stay in ornear Sarasota, Tisha Kehn and her L&L col-leagues have proposed a number of alterna-tive hotels. Diego Restrepo will soon visitthe leading contender and report to theExecutive Committee on its appropriatenessfor us. Another popular idea that emergedfrom a 2005 poll was to alternate meetingsbetween east and west coasts. That appearsto be too expensive an option, as we benefitfrom agreements for long-term relationshipswith hotels. Instead of alternating meetingsites, we most probably will try to use theopportunity of joint ISOT/AChemS meetings

to meet in the west. In 2008, theISOT/AChemS meeting being organ-ized by Program Chair-Elect Tom Fingerwill be held in San Francisco. On the2005 recommendation of our LongRange Planning Committee, Tom andTisha seriously considered several west-ern sites before making their final rec-ommendation for this site.

2007 Annual MeetingI know you will find this year’s annualmeeting exciting and stimulating. Wehave made some changes to better inte-grate our industrial partners and clinicalmembers into the program, and haveorganized symposia on a wide variety oftopics. I can’t help promoting thePresidential Symposium, which willhighlight recent transformationaladvances in cellular imaging and controlof cellular excitability. I look forward toour carrying on the tradition of intenseand collegial sharing of ideas that is thehallmark of AChemS meetings.v

Councilor’s Report onStudent Travel Awards andPolak Junior ScientistAwards

For the 2006 meeting, the Associationprovided funds for 33 student travelawards, ranging from $250 to $600.00(total $11,100.00). In addition, 24 stu-dents received housing awards at theHyatt.

2006 was the first year the Associationwas able to provide financial support forjunior scientists to attend the meeting.This was made possible through a gener-ous gift from the Ernest Polak family.These awards are made based on financialneed and scientific merit. In 2006, 12junior scientists (7 domestic, 5 interna-tional) received up to $600 or $800 insupport to attend the meeting inSarasota. We anticipate being able toprovide travel and housing support forthe same number of students and 10 jun-ior scientists for the 2007 meeting.

Debra Ann Fadool, AChemS XXVIII program chair, pictured with Dr.John Dowling, Harvard University who delivered the Givaudan Lecture,“Fishing for Novel Genes”.

“The Monell Girls”, current and ex post-docs from Monell ChemicalSenses Center, Philadelphia, PA.

Back row (from left) Drs. Catherine Forestell, Maja Petrova, BethGordesky-Gold, Catherine Peyrot des Gachons, Kristin Field, MichelleGallagher. Front row (from left) Mari Sandell, Yanina Pepino, VeronicaGalindo-Cuspinera and Claudia Damhuis.

3

A Look Back at AChemS XXVIII

4

5

Prelude to AChemS XXIXTrese Leinders-Zufall, PhD(trese.leinders@uks.eu)

The 29th annual meeting of the Associationfor Chemoreception Sciences will be held atthe Hyatt Sarasota Hotel in Sarasota,Florida from April 25-29, 2007. The 2007AChemS program will include the follow-ing:

Givaudan Lecture:Dr. Gene E. Robinson from the Universityof Illinois at Champaign-Urbana will be thisyear’s Givaudan lecturer. His research groupstudies the regulation of social behavior. Theresearch is integrative, involving perspectivesfrom evolutionary biology, behavior, neuro-science, molecular biology, and genomics.

SYMPOSIA:• Connecting genetics and perceptual varia-tions: The theme of this meeting is to high-light how information from the humangenome project and human genetics is beingapplied to explain individual human varia-tion in the perception of color, taste, andsmell.• “Human axillae: Why?”: This symposiumexamines the sources and functions ofvolatile compounds produced in the humanaxillae. Because the products of axillaryglands are commonly labeled as malodorousand an industry has grown up around neu-tralizing this malodor, symposium speakerswill discuss the concept of malodor and thestrategies employed by the fragrance indus-try and sensory scientists to reduce or elimi-nate malodor.• Olfaction beyond the olfactory bulb: Fromperception to memory: The basic theme ofthe symposium is how olfactory bulb outputis translated into an integrated olfactory per-ception. It brings together multidisciplinary,comparative approaches to the basic ques-tions of odor perception and memory.• Neural coding in the chemical senses: Thissymposium will focus on gustatory andolfactory coding as viewed from asystems/network perspective.• Gastrointestinal chemosensation: This is anewly arising field that is based on theobservation that elements of the taste trans-duction pathway are present in the gastroin-testinal tract and in specialized enteroen-

docrine cells. The questions addressed bythis symposium is what role thesechemosensory signaling elements play inappetite regulation, specific satieties, gutmotility and glucose homeostasis. • Contact chemosensory perception: Fromreceptor to behavior: This symposium willpresent progress especially in functionalcharacterization of specific receptors orreceptor families in taste and pheromoneperception. The focus will be on genetical-ly tractable systems, mainly Drosophilaand mouse, with a specific emphasis of therole of receptors, on various social and sex-ual behaviors.• Parallel processing by multiple olfactorysubsystems: In addition to the two majorchemosensory systems (main olfactoryepithelium and vomeronasal organ), thereare reports of several subtypes ofchemosensory neurons or epithelial cellsusing distinct signal transduction cascades.This symposium will focus on these newlyreported olfactory subsystems.

OTHER SPECIALITY SYMPOSIA:• Presidential Symposium• Industry Symposium: After last year’ssuccess, there will be again a platform forindustry, policy makers as well as academicscientists and graduate students to discussapplications and knowledge gleaned fromindustry and basic science. The symposiumwill be followed by a reception with buffetand cash bar.• GWIZ Science Center: Educational out-reach program for local Sarasota students.Please join to give demonstrations aboutthe chemical senses. Contact for this programis Gina Nelson (gnelson.chw@gmail.com).

WORKSHOPS:• NIH Workshop• Odor signaling in humans: Candidatecompounds for human signaling moleculespresent in human secretions have beenproposed to signal identity, emotion, gen-der and reproductive state. The intentionof this workshop is to review and discussthe current state of the field. There is stillmuch controversy about the whole issue of

human pheromones and disagreementabout the behavioral consequences ofexposure to these compounds. • Genomics approaches to studychemosensory receptors: In studying thegenetics of chemosensory perception,tools such as bioinformatics analysis,comparative genomics, and gene expres-sion shed light on the evolution of thechemical senses and species-specificselective pressures that shaped the reper-toire of chemosensory receptor genes.This workshop will discuss these types ofanalysis and its usefulness in inferringthe function of orphan receptors andidentifying novel protein structuredomains.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES:• Opening Buffet• Minority and Clinical Travel AwardeesLuncheon• Industry Reception• ChEMA (Chemosensory Enterpriseand Mentorship Alliance) Social: Socialto help ChEMA members and seniorAChemS members get to know eachother, network and talk about issuesimportant to junior chemosensory scien-tists.• Clinical Luncheon: Special Lecturer:Dr. L. Chin from NIDCD will talkabout translational and clinical researchprograms.• …..and of course the beach.

REVENUES

GENERALMembership Dues--RegularMembership Dues--Student/EmeritusMembership Dues--CorporateInterest/Investment InterestOtherISOT Contributions

Total General

ANNUAL MEETINGRegistration FeesAnnual Meeting SponsorshipExhibitor FeesAbstract FeesT-Shirt & Misc SalesClinical LuncheonGrant Income (2003-2004)Ernest Polak Fund

Total Annual Meeting

GRANT INCOMEAM Symposia Speaker RegistrationAM Minority Student RegistrationAM Clinical RegistrationAM OUP Symposia Page ChargesAM Audio/Visual -- SymposiaAM Management ServicesAM Advertising -- Minority Travel Fellow

Total Grant Income

TOTAL REVENUES

EXPENSES

ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSESManagement FeeUF Management FeeTelephoneOffice SuppliesPostage & Broadcast FaxPrintingCopy/DuplicatingWebsiteBank/Credit Card ChargesInsuranceOtherProfessional Fees -- MiscProfessional Fees -- Audit & TaxesStorageECRO Fellow Award

Total Administrative

PUBLICATIONS

NewsletterPrinting/Graphic Design

Total Newsletter

Chemical Senses JournalSubscriptionsSymposia Page Charges

Total Chemical Senses Journal

6

ANNUAL MEETINGSupplies / AwardsShipping/DrayageStaff TSOT-Shirt/OtherSocial EventsAdditional/Temp StaffingFood/BeveragePrintingPhotographerPostageOtherSpeaker's DinnerA/V SupportAbstract ServicesInsurance--Event LiabilityGratuityEducational Outreach--Food & BeverageClinical Luncheon (A/V - F&B)Chema Mentoring ProgramStudent Travel FundsFuture Site VisitsPoster Board ExpensesSymposia Speaker TSO (Non-grant)ISOT ExpensesMiscellaneous Exps--POLAK FUNDInvited Symp Spkr TSO--POLAK FUNDStudent Travel Award--POLAK FUNDOther Awards--POLAK FUND

Total Annual Meeting

AWARDSTucker AwardYoung Investigator Award in OlfactionMax Mozell AwardStudent/Postdoc Art Award

Total Awards

GRANT EXPENSESAM OUP Symposia Page ChargesAM Audio/Visual -- SymposiaAM Management ServicesAM Advertising -- Minority Travel Fellow

Total Grant Expenses

REPRESENT AT OTHER MTGS

TOTAL EXPENSES

TOTAL REVENUES

NET REVENUES/EXPENSES

$92,000.007,500.00

20,000.005,575.00

4,000.00-

$129,075.00-

150,000.006,500.002,250.00

18,000.00200.00

1,500.00

42,000.00-

$220,450.00-

998.40832.00520.00572.00

1,352.007,852.002,137.20

-$14,263.60

-

$363,788.60============

$63,002.002,000.002,000.00

500.001,000.00

450.00600.00

31,000.006,000.001,500.00

850.00

8,500.00490.00

4,000.00-

$121,892.00-

400.00-

$400.00-

30,500.00

-$30,500.00

-

--

1,000.001,250.00

500.00-

$2,750.00-

100.00-

$100.00-

100.00-

$100.00-

300.00

-300.00

-

100.00-

100.00-

100.0050.00

-$150.00

-

500.00-

$500.00-

$100.00-

$100.00-

100.00-

$100.00-

200.0050.00

-$250.00

-

100.00-

$100.00-

2,000.00400.00

3,000.00400.00750.00200.00

72,000.008,500.001,000.00

25.00500.00450.00

20,000.0015,000.002,750.00

400.00400.00

2,500.003,000.00

3,000.005,000.001,000.001,000.008,000.00

14,000.0019,000.00

-$165,275.00

-

650.002,000.002,000.00

500.00-

$5,150.00-

572.001,352.007,852.002,137.00

-$11,913.00

-

--

$358,680.00-

$363,788.60-

$5,108.60============

Association for Chemoreception Sciences2006-2007 BUDGET REPORT

DUES & CONTRIBUTIONS

COMMITTEESExecutive CommitteeStaff TravelMeeting ExpensesSFN Travel Grant

Total Executive Committee

Education CommitteeMeeting Expenses

Total Education Committee

Program CommitteeMeeting Expenses

Total Program Committee

Public Relations CommitteeMeeting ExpensesOther

Total Public Relations Committee

Clinical Relations CommitteeMeeting Expenses

Total Clinical Relations Committee

Finance CommitteeMeeting ExpensesOther

Total Finance Committee

Industrial Relations CommitteeMeeting Expenses

Total Industrial Relations Cmte

Elections CommitteeMeeting Expenses

Total Elections Committee

Membership CommitteeMeeting Expenses

Total Membership Committee

Long Range Planning CommitteeExec Cmte / Staff TSOMeeting ExpensesOther

Total Long Range Planning Committee

Ad Hoc CommitteesMeeting Expenses

Total Ad Hoc Committees

7

ChEMA ReportSuzanne Sollars, PhD

ChEMA (Chemosensory Enterprise and Mentorship Alliance) is in its fourth ‘official’ year at AChemS. For those not familiar withChEMA, we represent the nearly 200 AChemS members who have received their advanced degree (e.g. Ph.D., M.D., D.V.M.,D.D.S., terminal Master’s) within the past 10 years. AChemS has been increasingly supportive of ChEMA, providing funds for aChEMA reception every year and paying special attention to ensuring ChEMA colleagues receive recognition through awards andtravel grants.

This year, ChEMA will sponsor a reception on Friday, April 27, 5 – 7 p.m. in the Florida Room. No need to sign-up. If youreceived your advanced degree between 1996 and 2007, you are invited to join us for food, beverage, a chance to get to know fel-low ChEMA members and network with some of our ‘senior’ AChemS members too.

If you have questions or suggestions for future ChEMA activities, please feel free to contact Suzanne Sollars atssollars@mail.unomaha.edu

GWIZ 2006Gina Nelson, PhD,Education Committee Chair(gnelson.chw@gmail.com)

With almost 500 students in atten-dance, the 2006 AChemS educationaloutreach event at the GWIZ sciencemuseum was a big success. With thehelp of the director of education,Judith Watson, we had many enthusi-astic students and museum visitors. In2006 there were several new demon-strations, including naming familiarodors, comparative anatomy of brainspecimens, a microscopic view of tastebuds, a demo of clinical evaluations,and find the mystery odor group. Inaddition to our new demos, we had abooklet that provided preliminaryinformation for teachers and served as a"data" book for the junior high students.

The students used these booklets togather their "data" from the demos totake back to the classroom and use infollow-up lessons on taste and smell.

You may ask, "how do I participate insuch a lively event where I can influ-ence those young minds"? The GWIZevent takes place on Wednesday morn-ing before the actual meeting begins.This year the educational outreach willtake place on April 27th from 9:00-12:30 at GWIZ, across the street fromthe Hyatt Hotel. Send an email if youare interested in participating. Even ifyou do not have a demo idea of yourown, we will help you find a way toinspire those young minds. Enlightenthe day of a child, volunteer!

8

Travel fellowships are available forminority individuals and cliniciansinterested in the chemical senses. Theawards, funded by the NationalInstitute on Deafness and OtherCommunication Disorders, help coverthe costs for minority applicants andclinicians to attend AChemS. Over thelast five years the minority travel awardshave been extremely helpful in increas-ing the number of minorities attendingACHEMS. An average of 9 minoritytravel awards and 3 clinical awards havebeen awarded over the last five years.The minority travel fellowships haveshown a positive growth rate over theyears. In 2002 there were six minoritytravel awards recipients. In the follow-ing year of 2003 there were sevenawards, a 16.67% increase from theprevious year. Moreover, the trendmaintains a positive growth with eightminorities receiving travel awards in2004, and a greater increase of recipi-ents in 2005 with 12 recipients, and 11recipients in 2006. The minority appli-cants have been quite diverse in educa-tional background from undergradu-ates, graduate students and post-docs.The clinical travel awards have stayed ata constant of 2-3 awards per year; threewere awarded last year. The travel awardcommittee has made every effort tosupport all the applicants that haveapplied for the travel fellowships.

Minority and ClinicalTravel Fellowships

The 15th International Symposium onOlfaction and Taste

AChemS proudly hosts the InternationalSymposium on Olfaction and Taste(ISOT) in 2008. The meeting will be heldin San Francisco at the Hyatt Embarcaderoand is scheduled for July 21-25, 2008.Please check the AChemS website(www.achems.org) for further updates.

AChemS XXXIAChemS XXXI will be held April 22 – 26,2009 at the Hyatt in Sarasota, Florida.

Avian Olfaction SymposiumIBRO Satellite on Avian Brain, Cognitionand BehaviorHeron Island, Queensland, Australia19-23 July 2007Contact Symposium Organiser (GrahamBell): g.bell@atp.com.auRegister and bookings: http://work-shops.med.monash.edu.au/behaviour07

3rd "Summerschool on HumanOlfaction"Dresden, Germany, from July 29th, to August 4th, of 2007, organized by Thomas Hummel. http://www.tudresden.de/medkhno/riechen_schmecken/summerschool_2007.htmLecturers / topics include:Maria Larsson (Stockholm, Sweden) - cog-nition, odor memoryMatthias Laska (Linköpping, Sweden) -

chemosensory discriminationSteven Nordin (Umea, Sweden) - olfacto-ry psychophysicsBettina Pause (Düsseldorf, Germany) -pheromonesBenoist Schaal (Dijon, France) -chemosensory developmentSilvain Lacroix (Geneva, Switzerland) -neurogenic inflammation of the nasalmucosaEp Köster (Wageningen, TheNetherlands) - to be determinedNancy Rawson (Philadelphia, USA) - tobe determined

24th International OrnithologyCongress (IOC)AChemS membership will be pleased toknow that the recent 24th InternationalOrnithology Congress (IOC) held inHamburg, Germany in August 2006scheduled a symposium entitled "NewInsights into the sense of smell in birds:from foraging behavior to individualrecognition." This was the first sessionever presented at the IOC in which avianolfaction was the sole topic. Three mem-bers of AChemS were among the fivespeakers, viz., Julie Hagelin, Gaby Nevitt,and Bernice Wenzel. The conveners wereFrancesco Belladonna, France, and GabyNevitt, U.S.; the other speakers wereAnna Gagliardo, Italy, and RichVanBuskirk, U.S.

Upcoming Meetings

Job PostingPostdoctoral Position in Cellular and Systems Neuroscience, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DCAn NIH-funded post-doctoral position is available immediately to study neurons and circuits of the olfactory and limbic system. We are lookingfor a scientist to perform electrophysiological (patch-clamp) studies in olfactory bulb and amygdala slices from rats and mice. Experiments willexamine mechanisms of neuronal interactions and signaling. Experience with electrophysiology is required. Initial appointment is for 1 year withrenewal for up to 3 years contingent on performance.

Interested applicants should send curriculum vitae, statement of research interests, and names and addresses of 3 references to: Dr. Thomas Heinbockel

Howard University College of Medicine, Dept. of Anatomy520 W St., N.W.

Washington, DC 20059, USAPhone: 202-806-9873 • Fax: 202-265-9873 • E-mail: theinbockel@howard.edu

websites: www9.georgetown.edu///faculty/jwg37/Heinbockel/home.htmwww.gs.howard.edu/gradprograms/anatomywww.test.med.howard.edu/hucm/index.php/anatomy (under construction) Howard University is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

News from CHEMICAL SENSESThe Official Journal of AChemS, ECRO, and JASTS

9

Susan Travers and Barry Ache, the cur-rent AChemS-appointed ExecutiveEditors of Chemical Senses, want toremind the membership that ChemicalSenses is your journal. Chemical Sensesis published by Oxford University Pressat the request of and in order to serve thethree major chemical senses academicsocieties, AChemS, ECRO, and JASTS,making it the primary journal of ourfield. It is critical, therefore, that themembership of the three societies and,being the largest, the membership ofAChemS in particular, regularly use thejournal to publish their work. Thequantity and quality of research appear-ing in the journal help shape the globalimpression of research in our field. AsChemical Senses is your journal, wehope you share our feeling that it is yourresponsibility to support it by using thejournal to help showcase your work.

The journal publishes articles dealing

with conceptual advances in molecular,neurophysiological, neuroanatomical,behavioral, and psychophysical aspects ofolfaction, taste, and trigeminalchemosensation, including technical andclinical advances in the field. The journalenjoys wide, international circulationamong the chemical senses communityand an impact factor of 2.5 that allows itto hold its own among related journalshttp://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/. Thejournal also includes high-quality repro-duction of color photographs and usesadvanced on-line publication. We’repleased to announce that the journalrecently upgraded to the newest versionof Scholar One software that producesPDFs for review that include both textand figures.

In 2006, Chemical Senses received 160new submissions, 154 were OriginalArticles and 6 were Invited Reviews.Submissions were received from 28 coun-

tries, including: United States (53), Japan(16), Germany (12), France (11), Italy(10), United Kingdom (8), Netherlands(5), and others (<5). In 2006, 91 paperswere accepted and 67 were rejected, giv-ing the journal an acceptance rate of57.6%. Based on decisions made in2006, the average time from submissionto first decision was 42.8 days. The aver-age time from submission to acceptance(inclusive of time in revision) for thesame period was 101.2 days. We believethat this time can be improved and askthe membership to help us by replying toour requests for review in a positive andtimely manner.

Susan and I look forward to working withthe membership to make the content ofChemical Senses representative of thebest work in the field. We thank all of themembers who have submitted their workand reviewed for us over the past year.

AChemS Meeting 2007

Barry Ache, PhD

Join us!April 25-29, 2007

10

Industry-related events at theAChemS Annual Meeting 2007

The meeting of the Association forChemoreception Sciences (AChemS) hasbecome the largest annual conference onTaste and Smell research in the world. In2007 it will be held at the Sarasota HyattHotel in Sarasota Florida, April 25 – 29.Among a cornucopia of scientific presen-tations of all types, there will be two spe-cial industry-related events.

We are continuing our presentations onbackground and advances in chemicalsenses, geared to an audience from ourindustry constituency. These presenta-tions are designed to help busy industryscientists and policy makers who may nothave time to keep abreast of the torrent ofbasic research.

"Human Axilla: Why"This mini-symposium, sponsored by IFFand organized by Krystyna Rankin andCarol Christensen, examines the sourcesand functions of various compounds pro-duced in the human axillae; as well as theconcept of malodor and its control.

“Recent Advances in Taste and Flavor”This session, following the IFF sponsoredmini-symposium, consists of a series ofshort talks on recent advances in taste andflavor research. This is the first of a seriesof symposia or themed sessions whichwill focus, in alternate years, on advancesin taste-flavor or advances in olfaction-fragrance, presented at a level accessible tothe knowledgeable non-expert.Industry Reception/Buffet:

The symposia will be followed by areception with buffet and cash bar – pro-viding an opportunity for industry partic-ipants to network and to interact one-on-one with symposium speakers and otherinterested basic and applied scientists.Other industry-related activities atAChemS:

For the second year, AChemS will offerthe Science of Fragrance Award, spon-sored by the Sense of Smell Institute(SOSI), for the best scientific presenta-tion at the meeting relevant to fragranceindustry interests.

Other awards for pioneering research inthe chemical senses include a new award,sponsored by IFF, for outstanding newadvances in understanding the“Molecular Systems of Taste”. Details ofthese and other awards and events at theannual meeting are available on theAChemS website www.achems.org . Please join us at the meeting – and as aCorporate Member/ Sponsorwww.achems.org

INDUSTRY LIASION COMMITTEEMichael Meredith, PhD, Chair

The Industry Liaison Committee is appointed by the Executive Committee. Its role isto encourage interaction between the academic, industry and clinical constituencies ofAChemS, an important part of the AChemS mission. We organize events at the annu-al meeting where industry and academic scientists can exchange information. We solic-it suggestions from Corporate Members about new ways AChemS can help translateacademic advances into practical applications. We solicit new corporate membershipsand sponsorships in support of the AChemS mission. Industrial Liason Committeemembers are: Mike Meredith (chair), Carol Christensen, Rachel Herz, Bob Margolskeeand Craig Warren.

Taste and Smell in TranslationLast year we organized the Industry Symposium “Taste and Smell in Translation” inwhich four distinguished speakers presented their view of recent advances in chemicalsenses research of potential interest to industry scientists and policy makers. The sym-posium was well received. In addition to facilitating the flow of information, it alsoresulted in several new offers of support for AChemS. The reception and buffet follow-ing the symposium allowed industry and academic participants, and the symposiumspeakers, to make contacts and discuss common interests.

Science of Fragrance AwardLast year was also the first offering of the “Science of Fragrance Award” for the bestpresentation at the meeting relevant to fragrance industry interests. The award is madepossible by the generosity of the Sense of Smell Institute, the research and educationdivision of the Fragrance Foundation. The purpose is to bring the academic and indus-try communities together and to encourage research with potential industry applica-tions. The award is offered again this year and the extended deadline is March 1.Anyone who has already submitted an AChemS abstract can take advantage of thisextended deadline for submitting entries for the award. More information is availableon the website.

New Corporate MembershipsLast year’s corporate membership campaign resulted in ten new member companiesjoining AChemS, and also helped increase direct sponsorship of AChemS meetingevents. Platinum level members and sponsors have their company logo on the AChemSHome page and all members and sponsors are acknowledged in the member section ofthe website and in the program. We thank them for their support and welcome sugges-tions for new ways to strengthen interactions between the academic and industry mem-ber communities. We are always interested in talking to potential new members andsponsors.

AChemS 2007This year, we plan a suite of events as described in the “flyer” reproduced at right. Therewill be a mini-symposium on human odor and its control, sponsored by IFF, plus aseries of short talks on taste-flavor topics. These presentations will be followed by anindustry reception and buffet. The buffet this year is also partially sponsored by IFF. The flyer describing industry-related events, and a trifold brochure describing the ben-efits of Corporate Membership, are available from the AChemS Executive Office.Benefits include one or more regular memberships (depending on the level of corporatemembership) and meeting registrations that enable company scientists or officers toattend the meeting and receive information about AChemS operations.

R e s e a r c hFocus:Sensory codingin the olfactorybulb: Our neu-rons convey

information to each other via chemical andelectrical synapses and perform computa-tions that are vital to our survival. Ourmain research interest is to investigatesynaptic transmission and function in theolfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb hasbecome an attractive model to study cellu-lar mechanisms underlying the encoding,transfer, processing and decoding of senso-ry information. Interest in this area wassparked by a series of dramatic break-throughs over the past decade in our under-standing of the organization and functionof the peripheral olfactory system, cloningof the olfactory receptors, and identifica-tion of the olfactory transduction machin-ery. These advances have set the stage tounravel the mechanisms of early sensoryprocessing by bulbar circuits. In addition,there has been recently an increase of inter-

Research Focus:Taste receptorcells and neuronsregenerate fol-lowing neuralinjury. These

peripheral sensory cells are also capable ofextensive plasticity following direct or dis-tant injury. My lab is interested in theimmune response to degeneration andresulting changes in taste function. Wepropose that immune activation is benefi-cial, and current studies focus on: theleukocyte response to degeneration novelregulation of gustatory function bycytokines and chemokines the role of adhe-sion molecules in the taste system degener-ation and regeneration in the aging gusta-tory system and the effect of age-relatedimmune deficiencies.

Our goal is to determine the fun-damental mechanisms underlying taste-immune interactions, and to gain insightinto general strategies to restore normalreceptor cell and neural function.

Research Focus:The ChemosensoryP e r c e p t i o nLaboratory atUCSD placesunique emphasison how people

perceive chemicals and how chemicalsexert short-term effects on people.Scientists and physicians in the lab devotethemselves to the workings of the senses ofsmell and taste, and to physiological andpsychological consequences of chemicalstimulation. Smells and tastes can con-

11

Dr. William CainUniv. of California, San Diego

tribute to feelings of well-being and tohealthful living. They can also con-tribute to feelings of ill-health and todisorders. Some of our research con-cerns how people perceive flavors.Some of it concerns how people dis-criminate, identify, and rememberaromas and fragrances. Some of it con-cerns indoor air pollution, sick build-ing syndrome, and chemical sensitivi-ty. Some of it concerns odor warnings,as they pertain to gas. The diversity ofinterests and projects changes as thelab grows in the fertile surroundings of

Dr. Abdallah HayarUniv. of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

est in olfactory dysfunction because theimpairment of olfactory bulb seems to beassociated with some neurodegenerativediseases. We are interested in investigat-ing the synaptic organization of olfactorybulb glomeruli and the role of glomerularcircuitry in olfactory coding in normaland pathological states. We have foundthat olfactory bulb external tufted cellsare endowed with spontaneous rhythmicbursting. Using simultaneous patch-clamp recordings from pairs of neurons,we found that membrane potential oscil-lations and spontaneous bursting activityare highly correlated in cells associatedwith the same glomeruli. Synchronousbursting may play an important role inolfactory coding and in regulating theinduction of synaptic plasticity at the firstinput stage of the main olfactory bulb. Insummary, the purpose of our research isto unravel the fundamental networkmechanisms responsible for encodingand processing odor information.

Max Mozell Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Chemical Senses

RECIPIENTS OF THE 2006 ACHEMS AWARDS

one of the world's leading research uni-versities.

Since the laboratory falls within theDivision of Otolaryngology-Head andNeck Surgery, it has a special commit-ment to understanding disorders of smelland taste. Members of the laboratory par-ticipate in the Nasal Dysfunction Clinicat UCSD. Hundreds of patients per yearvisit this clinic for the diagnosis andtreatment of losses or distortions of smelland taste.

Ajinomoto Award for YoungInvestigator in Gustation

Dr. Lynnette PhillipsMcCluskeyMedical College ofGeorgia

AChemS Award for Young Investigator in Olfactory Research

The Frank AllisonLinville's R.H.Wright Award inO l f a c t o r yResearch was est-ablished in 1984by Dr. Frank

Allison Linville with support of GeneralMonitors Inc. in recognition of theaccomplishments of Dr. Robert H.Wright to the understanding of olfaction,the sense of smell. This $30,000 annualaward is given to an individual in recog-nition of an outstanding and ongoingachievement in research in olfaction. The2006 award recipient was Dr. KazushigeTouhara, Associate Professor in theDepartment of Integrated Biosciences,University of Toyko, presented for hiswork in the molecular biology of theolfactory and vomeronasal systems.

Serotonin IncreasesGABA ReleasefromPeriglomerularCells in MouseOlfactory Bulb

Periglomerular (PG) cells, the most popu-lous neuron type in the glomerular layer,have physiological and morphological prop-erties that distinguish them from externaltufted (ET) and short axon (SA) cells. PGcells are small interneurons whose dendritesare generally restricted to a single glomeru-lus. Subpopulations of PG cells expressGABA and/or dopamine. Proposed func-tions of PG cells are (i) presynaptic inhibi-12

tion of ON terminals and (ii) postsynap-tic inhibition of mitral/tufted cells,including ET cells. PG cells receivemonosynaptic glutamatergic input from -and monosynaptically feed back onto -ET cells. This glomerular circuit suggeststhat modulation of PG cell activity affectsET cell activity. Glomeruli are heavilytargeted by 5-HT fibers arising from theraphe nuclei. We have shown that 5-HT,via 5-HT2C receptors, causes a depolar-izing current in ET cells when pharmaco-logically isolated from excitatory andinhibitory inputs. Here we show thatwhen PG cells are isolated from ET andother glutamatergic inputs, 5-HT, via 5-HT2A receptors, induces GABA release

Don Tucker Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation

Jason AungstThe University of Maryland

from PG cells observed as IPSCs inpostsynaptic ET cells. This increasedinhibitory input is action potentialindependent as it is unaffected byTTX. 5-HT modulation of PG cellsmay function to inhibit glomerularexcitation through suppression ofbursting activity in ET cells.Alternatively, 5-HT's combinedactions on PG and ET cells mayenhance the signal to noise ratio ofglomerular throughput. Supported byNIH NIDCD DC 36940 &DC02173.

Moskowitz Jacobs Award for Research Excellence inPsychophysics of Taste and Smell

Dr. Paul WiseMonell Chemical Senses Center

Research Focus:Sensory coding inthe olfactory bulb:Our neurons con-vey information toeach other via

chemical and electrical synapses and per-form computations that are vital to our sur-vival. Our main research interest is to inves-tigate synaptic transmission and function inthe olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb hasbecome an attractive model to study cellularmechanisms underlying the encoding,transfer, processing and decoding of sensoryinformation. Interest in this area wassparked by a series of dramatic break-throughs over the past decade in our under-standing of the organization and function ofthe peripheral olfactory system, cloning ofthe olfactory receptors, and identification ofthe olfactory transduction machinery. Theseadvances have set the stage to unravel themechanisms of early sensory processing bybulbar circuits. In addition, there has beenrecently an increase of interest in olfactory

dysfunction because the impairment ofolfactory bulb seems to be associatedwith some neurodegenerative diseases.We are interested in investigating thesynaptic organization of olfactory bulbglomeruli and the role of glomerular cir-cuitry in olfactory coding in normal andpathological states. We have found thatolfactory bulb external tufted cells areendowed with spontaneous rhythmicbursting. Using simultaneous patch-clamp recordings from pairs of neurons,we found that membrane potentialoscillations and spontaneous burstingactivity are highly correlated in cellsassociated with the same glomeruli.Synchronous bursting may play animportant role in olfactory coding andin regulating the induction of synapticplasticity at the first input stage of themain olfactory bulb. In summary, thepurpose of our research is to unravel thefundamental network mechanismsresponsible for encoding and processingodor information.

Other Awards inChemosensory Awards

Wright Award in OlfactoryResearch