Affiliations
Chief Science Officer, Monell Chemical Senses Center
Member, Monell Chemical Senses Center
Education
Ph.D., Psychology; Yale University
Research Summary
I am interested in why people differ in their sense of taste and smell and how inborn genotype contributes to these differences. For instance, there are medicines that taste extremely bitter to some people whereas others perceive them as tasteless or nearly so. These differences are due in part to genetic variation in the bitter taste receptor genes and these genotype differences can differ based on ancestry.
In related work, I am curious why different SARS-Cov-2 variants differentially affect taste and smell, and we hope to develop methods to study this question.
I also join my colleagues in my interest in universal smell testing, developing easy and inexpensive tests suitable for screening for taste and smell loss as a routine part of medical care.
Keywords
sweet, bitter, genetics, taste, smell, obesity, genomics, genetic mapping
Representative Publications
Nguyen H, Lin C, Bell K, Huang A, Hannum M, Ramirez V, Christensen C, Rawson NE, Colquitt L, Domanico P, Sasimovich I, Herriman R, Joseph P, Braimah O, Reed DR. Worldwide study of the taste of bitter medicines and their modifiers. Chem Senses. 2025 Jan 22;50:bjaf003. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjaf003. PMID: 39902731; PMCID: PMC12010088.
Inclan-Rico JM, Napuri CM, Lin C, Hung LY, Ferguson AA, Liu X, Wu Q, Pastore CF, Stephenson A, Femoe UM, Musaigwa F, Rossi HL, Freedman BD, Reed DR, Macháček T, Horák P, Abdus-Saboor I, Luo W, Herbert DR. MrgprA3 neurons drive cutaneous immunity against helminths through selective control of myeloid-derived IL-33. Nat Immunol. 2024 Nov;25(11):2068-2084. doi: 10.1038/s41590-024-01982-y. Epub 2024 Oct 1. PMID: 39354200; PMCID: PMC12032830.
Hunter SR, Lin C, Nguyen H, Hannum ME, Bell K, Huang A, Joseph PV, Parma V, Dalton PH, Reed DR. Effects of genetics on odor perception: Can a quick smell test effectively screen everyone? Chem Senses. 2024 Jan 1;49:bjae025. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjae025. PMID: 38877790; PMCID: PMC11519045.
Hunter SR, Zola A, Ho E, Kallen M, Adjei-Danquah E, Achenbach C, Smith GR Jr, Gershon R, Reed DR, Schalet B, Parma V, Dalton PH. Using SCENTinel® to predict SARS-CoV-2 infection: insights from a community sample during dominance of Delta and Omicron variants. Front Public Health. 2024 Apr 10;12:1322797. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1322797. PMID: 38660364; PMCID: PMC11041634.
Nguyen H, Lin C, Sasimovich I, Bell K, Huang A, Leszkowicz E, Rawson NE, Reed DR. Thiazolidinediones are Partially Effective Bitter Blockers. Clin Ther. 2024 Apr;46(4):345-353. doi: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2024.02.002. Epub 2024 Mar 11. PMID: 38462427; PMCID: PMC11116052.
Hannum ME, Koch RJ, Ramirez VA, Marks SS, Toskala AK, Herriman RD, Lin C, Joseph PV, Reed DR. Taste loss as a distinct symptom of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Chem Senses. 2023 Jan 1;48:bjad043. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjad043. PMID: 38100383; PMCID: PMC11320609.
Tharakan T, Piccirillo JF, Miller B, Reed DR, Kallogjeri D, Paniello R, Puram SV, Jackson RS. Acute Taste Dysfunction in Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients after Transoral Robotic Surgery. Laryngoscope. 2023 Dec;133(12):3520-3528. doi: 10.1002/lary.30939. Epub 2023 Aug 8. PMID: 37551882; PMCID: PMC10843268.
Lin C, Jyotaki M, Quinlan J, Feng S, Zhou M, Jiang P, Matsumoto I, Huang L, Ninomiya Y, Margolskee RF, Reed DR, Wang H. Lipopolysaccharide increases bitter taste sensitivity via epigenetic changes in Tas2r gene clusters. iScience. 2023 May 19;26(6):106920. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106920. PMID: 37283808; PMCID: PMC10239704.
