As a neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, Dr. Amber Alhadeff studies how communication between the gut and brain influences feeding behavior....
When most of us think about scientific research, we picture laboratories, microscopes, and scientists busy at the lab bench advancing groundbreaking discoveries. What we often do not consider is the infrastructure that makes those discoveries possible, the people and systems working quietly behind the scenes...
Our senses are not luxuries. They are lifelines. -- Ben Smith ...
At the Monell Chemical Senses Center, scientists study something we often take for granted: how our senses shape the way we experience the world. For Dr. Kevin Bolding, that work begins with a simple question: how does the brain form memories? At Monell, Bolding leads a...
Nancy Rawson didn’t begin her career planning to lead a scientific institute. But a series of decisions guided by curiosity and a willingness to take chances eventually brought her back to a place she now considers home: the Monell Chemical Senses Center. Today, Rawson serves as...
Since 1968, Monell has brought diverse disciplines together to solve some of the toughest problems in chemosensory science — and, with industry partners, translate discovery into impact. Taste, smell, and related sensory systems span neuroscience, biology, behavior, and medicine — the definition of multidisciplinary “team...
Before Bruce Kimball joined Monell as a chemical ecologist, he was a research chemist working within a U.S. Department of Agriculture research institute studying chemically-mediated animal behavior. It was there he discovered a new (to him) realm of chemical communication: applying chemical and behavioral assays...
Matthew Aquilino always knew that he wanted to study science. He credits his interest in chemosensory science to his first graduate school course lecture that focused on the physiology of the senses of taste, smell, and touch....
When Gary Beauchamp came to Monell, he never thought it would be for a lifetime. When he arrived more than 50 years ago, the Center was a small, experimental institute at the University of Pennsylvania. He had just finished his PhD at the University of Chicago...
As a postdoctoral fellow in Guillaume de Lartigue’s lab, Rebeca Méndez-Hernández studies how the brain listens to the body, detangling the sensory signals that shape hunger, metabolism, and behavior....