Monell Chemical Senses Center

#ReadThis: Monell Chemical Senses Center study on how direct vs. self-report measures reveal more #COVID19 #smell loss. Overall, prevalence varies 5% - 98%; in direct measure studies ~77% of patients had #smell loss, self-report 44%. Direct measures of smell involve patients smell and report on actual odorants. Self-report methods obtain data through patient questionnaires, interviews, or electronic health records. Direct measures are a more sensitive method to identify smell loss related to COVID-19, according to Mackenzie E. Hannum, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at Monell. https://monell.org/better-measures-reveal-more-covid-19-sm/

Right now when you choose @MonellSc when shopping on #AmazonPrimeDay, Amazon Smile, you are supporting #COVID19 #smell & #taste research. Thanks in advance from all of us. https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-2020897

Why are dairy foods so tasty? Read all about it in a C&EN article on animal-free dairy. Monell scientist Paul Breslin says that it has a lot to do with how their constituents break down into components that we can smell, feel, and taste. https://cen.acs.org//food-in/start-ups-make-us-love/98/i38

#HappeningToday: Tuesday 10/13, 1:00 - 2:00 EDT @MonellSc Virtual Seminar: Dr. Justus Verhagen, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Yale University, speaking on "Odor coding and discrimination over time by mice: new insights" Register here: https://bit.ly/30MCGvW

Happy birthday to @MonellSc George Preti. #RIP

Listen to this! Monell Center researcher Pam Dalton on KYW Newsradio, about #COVID19 related #smell loss. "This is probably one of the first disorders that we've seen that produces a complete shutdown of the olfactory system among a large group of people." Some people have yet to regain their sense of smell, while others have found that everything smelled differently. https://bit.ly/3njzlhx

#ReadThis: @MonellSc researchers Julie Mennella & Paul Breslin share insights on new ways of understanding our sense of #taste. NEO.LIFE, @JasonBardi. https://neo.life/2020/10/taste-2-0-is-here/

#HappeningToday: @MonellSc Virtual Seminar: Tuesday 10/06/2020, 1:00 - 2:00 EDT, Dr. Kevin Myers, Department of Psychology, BucknellU, "Flavor-nutrient learning in the obesogenic environment. To register: https://bit.ly/2GnR1Yk

#MarkYourCalendar, #HappeningThisWeek: Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research Update Thursday Oct 1st 2020 at 11 am EDT (New York)//5pmCEST (Paris)//6pm EAT (Nairobi)//11 pm Singapore (SGT)//+1 day 1 am AEST (Bribane). Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85801033103. Please note, this is a first come, first admitted webinar, with a 100-participant limit. Program... - 00:00 Welcome & GCCR updates - 00:05 Charlotte Hautefort - Mechanisms of smell loss in COVID-19: new insights from MRI studies - 00:20 Rick Gerkin - Predicting COVID-19 status from chemosensory phenotype - 00:35 Veronica Pereda-Loth - Self-reported smell and taste loss are early markers of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the effectiveness of political decisions - 00:50 Wrap up and discussion - 00:60 Thank you and goodbye! See more

@MonellSc, @DanielleRReed: The smell loss in Covid is not nuanced for most people. People who are not hyper-attentive to their sensory world, they notice. At least, eventually" in WIRED by @atsaraharrison. https://www.wired.com//why-is-it-so-hard-to-study-covid-r/

#HappeningToday: @MonellSc Virtual Seminar: Kelvin Luk, PhD, @PennPathLabMed, @PennMedicine, @Penn on "How Lewy bodies spread: Insights from in vivo models of seeded alpha-synucleinopathy Tuesday, 9/29, 1:00 EST. To register: http://www.monell.org/news/events

Race to Redesign Sugar in The New Yorker, by Nicola Twilley, The Gastropod. Director Bob Margolskee explains that : humans have evolved in an environment filled with substances that might make us sick or even kill us, so are highly sensitized to unpleasant tastes that may signal danger. But the sweetest thing that early hominids would have been likely to come across was fruit or, occasionally, honey. So although we are now surrounded by cheap, plentiful sources of sweetness, our sugar receptors are still tuned to the level of a ripe banana. It would be better if our sweet receptors got more sensitive so we would eat less sugar. But that’s going to take another couple hundred thousand years at least.https://bit.ly/32QOkYa

Thanks @StephanieFeuer & @smithsonian for the mention in #anosmia, #parosmia, #phantosmia article. Nancy Rawson explains that the olfactory epithelium can regenerate after it has been damaged. But that regeneration can take timeup to two years, or more. https://www.smithsonianmag.com//why-covid-19-patients-are/

#SavetheDate for the next @MonellSc Virtual Seminar, with Beverly Tepper, PhD, Department of Food Science, Rutgers University, speaking on "Cranberry Polyphenols, Astringency Perception and the Salivary Proteome. Tuesday 09/22/2020, 1:00 EST. Please register here: http://monell.org/news/events.