NIH Sensory Nutrition and Disease Workshop

NIH Campus, Natcher Conference Center,
Bethesda, Maryland
November 12 – 13, 2019

Many of our most serious and intractable health problems—including obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer—are linked to what we choose to eat and drink. What we choose to eat and drink is driven largely by the sensory properties of food: taste, smell, and texture. As molecular tools in model organisms become increasingly sophisticated, how can this new information be translated to testable hypotheses to the betterment of human health?

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Session 1: Setting the Stage

Taste Cells, Signals, and Nerves

Nirupa Chaudhari, Ph.D., University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Odor Detection in the Olfactory Bulb

John McGann, Ph.D., Rutgers University

Central Processing of Taste: Integration of Sensation with Behavior

Alfredo Fontanini, M.D., Ph.D., Stony Brook University

Reshaping of Sweet Taste by High Dietary Sugar

Monica Dus, Ph.D., University of Michigan

Session II: Sensory Nutrition Public Health, and Disease

Introduction and Examining Smell and Taste in Large Cohort Studies

Valerie Duffy, Ph.D., RD, University of Connecticut

Human Cephalic-phase Insulin Response to Nutritive and Low-calorie Sweeteners

Richard Mattes, Ph.D., M.P.H., RD, Purdue University (Workshop Co-chair)

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Personal Differences in Sensory Experience and Human Health

Danielle Reed, Ph.D., Monell Chemical Senses Center (Workshop Co-chair)

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Early-life Flavor and Sweet Response as It Relates to Cognitive Development and Obesity

Emily Noble, Ph.D., The University of Georgia

Chemosensory Changes in Obesity and after Metabolic Surgery

M. Yanina Pepino, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Hedonic Taste Shifts: Saltiness and Sweetness

Gary Beauchamp, Ph.D., Monell Chemical Senses Center

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Chemosensory Changes in Aging

Claire Murphy, Ph.D., San Diego State University


Session III: Chemosensation Outside of Traditional Locations

Chemosensation in Nontraditional Locations – Overview

Jennifer Pluznick, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

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Intestinal Bitter Taste Receptor Activation Alters Hormone Secretion and Imparts Metabolic Benefits

Enrique Saez, Ph.D., The Scripps Research Institute

Sweet Taste Receptors Modulate Glucose Absorption

George Kyriazis, Ph.D., College of Medicine, The Ohio State University

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Effects of Sensory Signaling in the Gastrointestinal Tract on Human Appetite and Food Intake

John McLaughlin, Ph.D., FRCP, The University of Manchester

Extra Gustatory Function of Bitter Taste Receptors in the Gut

Catia Sternini, M.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Microbial Endocrinology: How Evolved Intersections of Microbiology and Neurobiology Matter to Health and Sensory Nutrition

Mark Lyte, Ph.D., M.S., MT(ASCP), Iowa State University

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