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
Douglas JE, Lin C, Mansfield CJ, Bell K, Salmon MK, Kohanski MA, Adappa ND, Palmer JN, Bosso JV, Reed DR, Cohen NA. (2022) Genetics of denatonium-responsive bitter receptors in aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. doi: 10.1002/alr.23077. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36005386.
Hunter SR, Hannum ME, Pellegrino R, O’Leary MA, Rawson NE, Reed DR, Dalton PH, Parma V. (2022) Proof-of-concept: SCENTinel 1.1 rapidly discriminates COVID-19 related olfactory disorders. medRxiv [Preprint], 2022.03.23.22272807. doi: 10.1101/2022.03.23.22272807. PMID: 35350197; PMCID: PMC8963695.
Sell EA, Tan LH, Lin C, Bosso JV, Palmer JN, Adappa ND, Lee RJ, Kohanski MA, Reed DR, Cohen NA. (2022) Microbial metabolite succinate activates solitary chemosensory cells (SCCs) in the human sinonasal epithelium. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. doi: 10.1002/alr.23104. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36565436.
Weir EM, Hannum ME, Reed DR, Joseph PV, Munger SD, Hayes JE, Gerkin RC. (2022) The Adaptive Olfactory Measure of Threshold (ArOMa-T): a rapid test of olfactory function. Chem Senses, 47:bjac036. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjac036. PMID: 36469087; PMCID: PMC9798529.
Weir EM, Reed DR, Pepino MY, Veldhuizen MG, Hayes JE. (2022) Massively collaborative crowdsourced research on COVID19 and the chemical senses: Insights and outcomes. Food Qual Prefer, 97:104483. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104483. Epub 2021 Nov 26. PMID: 34848930; PMCID: PMC8616712.
Lin C, Inoue M, Li X, Bosak NP, Ishiwatari Y, Tordoff MG, Beauchamp GK, Bachmanov AA, Reed DR. (2021) Genetics of mouse behavioral and peripheral neural responses to sucrose. Mamm Genome, 32(2):51-69. doi: 10.1007/s00335-021-09858-4. Epub 2021 Mar 13. PMID: 33713179.
Lin C, Tordoff MG, Li X, Bosak NP, Inoue M, Ishiwatari Y, Chen L, Beauchamp GK, Bachmanov AA, Reed DR. (2021) Genetic controls of Tas1r3-independent sucrose consumption in mice. Mamm Genome, 32(2):70-93. doi: 10.1007/s00335-021-09860-w. Epub 2021 Mar 12. PMID: 33710367.
Parma V, Hannum ME, O’Leary M, Pellegrino R, Rawson NE, Reed DR, Dalton PH. (2021) SCENTinel 1.0: Development of a Rapid Test to Screen for Smell Loss. Chem Senses, 46:bjab012. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjab012. PMID: 33773496; PMCID: PMC8083606.
Reed DR, Alhadeff AL, Beauchamp GK, Chaudhari N, Duffy VB, Dus M, Fontanini A, Glendinning JI, Green BG, Joseph PV, Kyriazis GA, Lyte M, Maruvada P, McGann JP, McLaughlin JT, Moran TH, Murphy C, Noble EE, Pepino MY, Pluznick JL, Rother KI, Saez E, Spector AC, Sternini C, Mattes RD. (2021) NIH Workshop Report: sensory nutrition and disease. Am J Clin Nutr, 113(1):232-245. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa302. PMID: 33300030; PMCID: PMC7779223.
Hannum ME, Ramirez VA, Lipson SJ, Herriman RD, Toskala AK, Lin C, Joseph PV, Reed DR. (2020) Objective Sensory Testing Methods Reveal a Higher Prevalence of Olfactory Loss in COVID-19-Positive Patients Compared to Subjective Methods: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Chem Senses, 45(9):865-874. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjaa064. PMID: 33245136; PMCID: PMC7543258.
