The SciencesMarch 1, 2001
Making Sense of Taste
How do cells on the tongue register the sensations of sweet, salty, sour and bitter? Scientists are finding out and discovering how the brain interprets these signals as various tastes
Stories by David V. Smith and Robert F. Margolskee
DAVID V. SMITH and ROBERT F. MARGOLSKEE approach the study of taste from complementary angles. Smith's training is in psychobiology and neurophysiology. He is professor and vice chairman of the department of anatomy and neurobiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he has been since 1994, and is a member of the program in neuroscience there. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and received postdoctoral training at the Rockefeller University. Margolskee's training is in molecular neurobiology and biochemistry. He is an associate investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a professor of physiology and biophysics and of pharmacology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he has been since 1996. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and did postdoctoral research in biochemistry at Stanford University. He founded the biotechnology company Linguagen in Paramus, N.J.