Linda Buck, Ph.D.

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006, 8:30 a.m. – 9 a.m.

Searle Center Lecture Hall

(with broadcast to Fitzpatrick CIEMAS)

We have investigated how mammals detect odorant chemicals in the nose and how the brain translates those chemicals into odor perceptions. We found that odorants are detected in the nose by ~1000 different odorant receptors (ORs), which are used in different combinations to encode odor identities.

 

In the nose, different odorant receptors are found on different neurons. Neurons with different odorant receptors are randomly interspersed in the nose, but they connect to odorant receptor-specific glomeruli in the brain's olfactory bulb, creating a stereotyped sensory map.

 

In the olfactory cortex, which receives signals from the bulb, we found another stereotyped map, but here signals from different odorant receptors are mapped onto partially overlapping clusters of neurons and each neuron receives signals from a combination of odorant receptors.

 

Our recent studies indicate that cortical neurons integrate signals from an odorant's combinatorial receptor code. This may represent a first step in the reconstruction of an odor image from its deconstructed features, which are carried by signals from combinations of odorant receptors.

Dr. Linda Buck is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Associate Director of Basic Sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Affiliate Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Washington. She received a B.S. from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. from the UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, and then conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University. She was previously a Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Buck is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

Dr. Buck's research has provided key insights into the mechanisms that underlie the sense of smell in mammals. In recognition of her contributions, Dr. Buck has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including The Takasago Award for Research in Olfaction, The LVMH Moet Science for Art Prize, The Unilever Science Award, The R.H. Wright Award in Olfactory Research, The Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Medical Research, The Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, and, in 2004, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.