Taste, Smell, and Health at the 67th Biophysical Society Meeting
Taking place from the 18th to 22nd of February, this year's Biophysical Society Meeting brings together "leading scientists ...
18 February, 2023
News
Monell Chemical Senses Center Joins the First Philadelphia Postdoc Preview
This week at Monell Chemical Sense Center, we join 6 other Philadelphia-based research institutions at the Philadelphia Postdoc Preview. The event brings together the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Drexel University College of Medicine, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Thomas Jefferson University, University...
06 February, 2023
We’re Excited for 2023, Are You?
Mehmet Hakan Ozdener, MD, PhD, leads the recent development of a new method to reprogram human taste cells into neuron-like cells. Amber Alhadeff, PhD, joins an outstanding cohort of early-career scientists honored by the New York Stem Cell Foundation. Gary Beauchamp, PhD, along with two other Philadelphia...
24 December, 2022
Monell Center Recipient of State Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program Grant
Contact: Karen Kreeger, kkreeger@monell.org (PHILADELPHIA) December 21, 2022. The Monell Chemical Senses Center has received $1,000,000 in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program funds for the immediate creation of quality jobs for Pennsylvanians. The program – Monell’s first such grant – finances projects that result in employment...
21 December, 2022
Inverse: What Is Artificial Banana Flavor Made of?
There are bananas, and then there are banana-flavored things. Laffy Taffy is my personal favorite, but Runts, Hi-Chews, and jelly beans also capture perhaps not this fruit’s essence but an idea of it. Where did this banana-like flavor come from? The popular narrative is a tale...
17 December, 2022
C&EN: Chemists Propose Unifying Theory of Musk
The human brain registers at least four classes of compounds as the scent we call musk. Structurally, these compounds look nothing alike, yet they smell the same: gamy, rich, and leathery. Researchers at Duke University and Kao Corporation, a chemical and consumer products company in Tokyo,...
15 November, 2022
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly Award-Winners Tackle Problems From Inside the Brain to Outer Space
Nancy Bonini studies Parkinson’s and other human brain diseases by probing the genes of a lab animal smaller than the head of a pin: the fruit fly. Gary Beauchamp made fundamental discoveries about the human senses of taste and smell, showing how we can be weaned...
10 November, 2022
Allure: Our Love-Hate Relationship With Vanilla, Explained
Growing up in the U.S., the scent and flavor of vanilla are practically baked into our childhoods thanks to sugar cookies, candy, frosting, whipped cream, pound cake, and beyond. And long before we duked it out with our elementary school classmates over a single glazed...
08 November, 2022
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Why Some People Hate Candy Corn While Others Can’t Get Enough
Candy corn — invented ages ago in Philadelphia, according to legend — may be even more polarizing than that other autumnal aroma, pumpkin spice. The police department in Fort Collins, Colo., once said (only partly in jest?) that this tricolored staple of Halloween should be a...
31 October, 2022
The Washington Post: Zombie Behavior Demystified by Scientists
Zombies are just regular people, or at least they were before — well, you know. With that in mind and with Halloween approaching, The Washington Post asked experts in several fields to address some zombie mysteries based on what is known about human bodies and brains....
25 October, 2022