Our Research

Our senses shape our lives in ways we are only beginning to understand. Monell’s cutting-edge research focuses on taste, smell, and related senses to provide a framework for advances across many areas of human health and well-being.

Monell’s research approach is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary, sensory psychologists work with biophysicists, chemists with behavioral neuroscientists, environmental scientists with geneticists. Many approaches and tools, ranging from sensory assessment to genetics, are shared across programs, facilitating, and strengthening Monell’s interdisciplinary approach.

Monell promotes a culture of scientific rigor and reproducibility and is a member of the Association of Research Integrity Officers, an organization that provides a dedicated platform for discussing, developing, and sharing best practices and strategies for promoting ethical research.

Improve Nutritional Health: Reduce overconsumption of salt, fat, and sugar by integrating sensory and nutrition science to reduce diet-related diseases and promote health.

Diagnose and Treat Diseases: Advance new technologies to monitor volatile chemicals that signal disease and harness solitary chemosensory cells to target innate immunity.

Address Loss of Smell and Taste: Restore or prevent loss of human smell and taste throughout life through regenerative medicine and behavioral strategies.

Digitize Chemosensory Data: Deliver digitized odors, tastes, and chemesthetic percepts anywhere instantaneously using new technology and devices.

Monell’s discoveries of fundamental chemosensory science have paved the way for a healthier, safer world. Click here for a selection of examples from the past 50 years.