Seminars are typically held once a month on a Tuesday during Fall and Spring semesters from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Academic Research Building (ARB) R5-265. UFCST seminars are open to the public. We are now holding all our seminars virtually via zoom. Please visit our news tab and look under “Events and Seminars” for details on each guest lecturer.
Our seminar series for the most recent and upcoming academic years include:
2020-2021 Academic Year
Dec. 8 – Adam Dewan, Ph.D. – Florida State University – “Dissecting Olfactory Perception”
2019-2020 Academic Year
Sept. 17 – Joseph Breza, Ph.D. – Eastern Michigan University – “Lightly Salted: An Optogenetic Approach to Illuminate the Role of Type I Cells in Salt Taste”
Oct. 8 – Linda Barlow, Ph.D. – University of Colorado Denver -“Generating and Regenerating a Sense of Taste”
Nov. 7 – Arianna Maffei, Ph.D. – Stony Brook University – “Circuit Mechanisms for Learning in Sensory Cortex”
Nov. 12 – Marco Tizzano, Ph.D. – Monell Center – “Solitary Chemosensory Cells are Immune Sentinels for Bacterial Infection and Mucosal Irritants”
Dec. 10 – Dana Small, Ph.D. – Yale University – “Integration of Mind and Metabolism”
2018 - 2019 Academic Year
Sept. 11 – Hua Yan, Ph.D. – University of Florida – “Generating Genetic Tools in Ants to Study Social Behavior and Neural Development”
Sept. 24 – Pat DiLorenzo, Ph.D. – Binghamton University – “Heterogeneity of Neuronal Responses in the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract Suggests Sensorimotor Integration in the Neural Code for Taste”
Oct. 9 – Timothy Gilbertson, Ph.D. – University of Central Florida – “Exploring the Role of Taste in Obesity”
Nov. 13 – Anne Marie Oswald, Ph.D. – University of Pittsburgh – “Synapses, Circuits and Ensembles in Piriform Cortex”
Dec. 11 – Minghong Ma, Ph.D. – University of Pennsylvania – “Nasal Breathing, Brain Rhythms, and Fear Behavior”
Feb. 7 – Chris Simons, Ph.D. – The Ohio State University – “Duality of Smell: Route of Delivery Impacts Aroma Perception”
Feb. 19 – Bradley Goldstein, MD, Ph.D. – University of Miami – “Neurogenesis and Tissue Renewal in the Peripheral Olfactory System”
March 12 – Gail Civille – Sensory Spectrum, Inc. – “The Many Faces of Sensory Science”
2017 - 2018 Academic Year
2016 - 2017 Academic Year
Sept. 15 – John McGann, Rutgers University – “Beyond Bottom-up Sensory Processing: Learning and Expectation Can Shape Sensory Input to the Mouse Brain”
Oct. 5 – Barry Ache, University of Florida – “What the Nose Tells the Brain: Ligand-induced Selective Signaling in Olfaction.”
Nov. 2 – Juyun Lim, Oregon State University – “Starch Taste: Target Substrate, Sensory Perception, and Transduction Mechanisms”
Dec. 7 – Ke Dong, Michigan State University – “Can mosquitoes and flies smell pyrethrum and pyrethroid insecticides?”
Jan. 11 – Susan Travers, The Ohio State University – “GABAergic functions in the gustatory NST”
April 21 – Frank Zufall, Universität des Saarlandes – “New Insights into the Subsystem of the Mammalian Sense of Smell”
April 24 – Trese Leinders-Zufall, Universität des Saarlandes – “Neuronal Mechanisms of Olfactory Sensing”
2015 - 2016 Academic Year
Sept. 2 – Dr. George Kyriazis, Assistant Professor, Diabetes and Obesity Research Center, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Lake Nona (Orlando) FL
Dr. Kyriazis studies how intestinal and pancreatic sweet taste receptors sense changes in dietary and circulating nutrients.
Oct. 7 – Dr. Lisa Stowers, Principal Investigator, The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego CA
Dr. Stowers studies the neural mechanisms that specify stereotypic behavior in mice such as pheromone-mediated mating, aggression, and scent marking.
Nov. 4 – Dr. Jeffery Riffell, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle WA
Dr. Riffell is an emerging leader in chemical ecology and insect chemoreception. He studies the ecological and evolutionary basis of floral scent in plant-pollinator interactions by combining novel chemical analytical, neurophysiological, and ecological approaches. He uses plant-pollinator interactions, as well as host-seeking by vector insects, to understand neural mechanisms for processing and learning complex odors.
Dec. 2 – Dr. Terry Acree, Department of Food Science, Cornell University
Dr. Acree studies how odorant composition is represented in the perception of the flavor of food and beverages.
Jan. 13 – Dr. Robin Krimm, Professor, Dept. of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, School of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville KY
Dr. Krimm studies the molecular cues that build sensory systems during development, especially the development of the taste system.
Feb. 10 – Dr. Leonardo Belluscio, Senior Investigator, Developmental Neural Plasticity Section, NINDS, NIH, Bethesda MD
Dr. Belluscio studies the principles and mechanisms that underlie plasticity and regeneration in the brain using the mammalian olfactory system as a model.
March 9 – Dr. John Boughter, Associate Professor, Dept. of Anatomy and Neurobiology, U. Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis TN
Dr. Boughter studies ingestive behaviors in mice using neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and behavioral genetic approaches.
April 6 – Dr. Rebecca Butcher, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville FL
Dr. Butcher’s lab researches how organisms use small molecules to communicate information, with a focus on a type of roundworm that has fine-tuned senses of smell and taste.
April 18 – Dr. Marc Spehr, Professor, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Dr. Spehr is a professor at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. His research is in the fields of neurophysiology and reproductive biology.
2014 - 2015 Academic Year
October 13 – Joel Mainland, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philidelphia, PA – Insights from Olfactory Receptor Screening.
November 5 – Elissa Hallem, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, UCLA – Odor-driven host seeking in skin-penetrating parasitic nematodes
December 3 – Jay Gottfried, Department of Neurology and the Cognitive Neurology & Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University – Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Human Sense of Smell but Were Afraid to Ask
February 4 – Thomas Bozza, Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University – Genetic Analysis of Olfactory Receptor Function in the Mouse
March 4 – Ivan de Araujo, School of Medicine, Yale – The Physiology and Neural Circuitry of Sweet Taste Reward
2013 - 2014 Academic Year
September 11 – Dr. Glenn Turner, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory – Olfactory Processing in the Drosophila Mushroom Body
October 16 – Dr.Richard Doty, Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center – Olfactory Dysfunction in Neurological Disease
November 20 – Dr. Roger Sunahara, Department of Pharmacology, University of Michigan – G Protein Coupling to GPCRs: Structural and Functional Insights into the Reciprocal G Protein and GPCR Interactions
January 29 – Dr. Steven D. Munger, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine – A Common Molecular Toolkit for Alimentary Chemosensation: Implications for Taste, Nutrient Assimilation, and Metabolic Disease
February 12 – Dr. Kristin Baldwin, Department of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute – Building and Maintaining Olfactory Processing Circuits
March 12 – Dr.John E. Hayes, Sensory Evaluation Center, The Pennsylvania State University – Genotype-Phenotype Associations and Human Behavioral Nutrigenetics: Insights and Pitfalls
2012 - 2013 Academic Year
September 20 – Dr.Donald Katz, Department of Psychology and Volen Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University – TheNeural Population Dynamics of Taste Perception
November 1 – Dr.Alan C. Spector, Department of Psychology, Florida State University – Linking Peripheral Taste Receptor Mechanisms to Behavior
November 29 – Dr. Harry Klee, Department of Horticultural Science, University of Florida – The Chemistry and Genetics of Tomato Flavor
February 6 – Dr. Jeffrey R. Martens, Department of Pharmacology, University of Michigan Medical School – Gene Therapeutic Rescue of Congenital Anosmia
February 20 – Dr. James H. Tumlinson, Center for Chemical Ecology, Penn State University – Chemical Signaling in Tritrophic Plant-Insect Interactions
March 20 – Dr. Donald Wilson, Emotional Brain Institute and Departments of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Neural Science New York University School of Medicine and Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research – Alzheimer’s Disease really stinks – or does it? Amyloid – Beta and Olfactory Function
2011 - 2012 Academic Year
September 15 – John Prescott, University of Newcastle, School of Psychology – Chemosensory learning and flavour: Perception, preference and intake
2010 - 2011 Academic Year
September 23 – Rebecca Butcher, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida – Small molecule-mediated signaling
between organisms
November 4 – Hiroaki Matsunami, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke – Molecular mechanisms underlying taste and smell in mammals
December 2 – Mark Stopfer, Laboratory of Cellular and Synaptic Neurophysiology, NICHD – Roles of olfactory receptor neurons in establishing neural codes for odors
January 13 – Timothy Osborne, Diabetes & Obesity Research Center, Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute – SREBP regulation of bitter taste receptor function in the gut
February 10 – Frederick Ausubel, Department of Molecular Biology, Mass General Hospital – Identification of novel antimicrobial compounds that target bacterial virulence or host immunity
March 24 – Gerard Smith, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College, Cornell – Satiation: From Gut to Brain
2009 - 2010 Academic Year
Sep. 10 – Dennis Drayna, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, NIH, Senior Investigator – Genetics of human taste perception
October 8 – Matt Wachowiak, Department of Biology, Boston University – Seeing what the nose tells the brain: Active sensing and odor coding imaged in the awake animal
November 5 – Charles Luetje, Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami School of Medicine – Exploring the odorant binding site in olfactory receptors
December 3 – Rachel Wilson, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School – Olfactory processing in the Drosophila brain
January 21 – Debi Fadool, Department of Biological Science, Florida State University – Insulin and Obesity as Neuromodulators of Olfactory Physiology
February 18 – Leslie Kay, University of Chicago
March 18 – Piali Sengupta, Department of Biology, Brandeis University – Pheromone signaling in C. elegans: Mechanisms and consequences
April 20 – Pierre-Marie Lledo, Laboratory of Perception and Memory, Institut Pasteur, Bâtiment Fernbach – The life-long neurogenesis in the olfactory system
2008 - 2009 Academic Year
Sept 18 – Dr. Laurence J. Zwiebel, Vanderbilt University – The Molecular Genetics of Olfaction in Disease Vector Mosquitoes
October 9 – Dr. Ben Strowbridge, Neurosciences Department, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine – Local circuits and information processing in the olfactory bulb
November 6 – Claire Murphy, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University – The Sense of Smell in the Aging Brain and Dementia
December – Scott D. Pletcher, Ph.D. Huffington Center on Aging and Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine – Modulation of Drosophila Physiology and Lifespan by Perceptual Systems
January 15 – Craig Montell, Dept. of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – Sensory Signaling and TRP Channels
February 3 – Paul Rozin, Dept. of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania – Affective dimension in the regulation of food intake
February 19 – Howard Moskowitz, CEO, Moskowitz Jacobs, Inc. – Re-inventing Food & Drink Advertising Through IdeaMap®’s Addressable Minds™