Chemical Receptor Sensory Systems

R. Kyle Palmer, Ph.D. His PhD is in pharmacology, and since moving from a career in pharmaceutical industry drug discovery to biotechnology innovation in the chemosenses (fifteen years ago) he has taken a leading role in promoting the proposition that phenomena of chemical sensing systems can best be studied and understood from the conceptual framework of the science of pharmacology. This perspective has been developed and refined through his publications and presentations at major scientific conferences. He has invented and patented new technologies that enable pharmacologic approaches to the study of chemosensory biology and behavior.

PART 1 Foundational Concepts 1. Introduction: What Makes the Chemical Sensory Systems Different from Other Sensory Systems? 2. Historical Perspectives: Development of Conceptual Frameworks for Studying Taste and Olfaction 3. Principles of Receptor Pharmacology as They Relate to the Chemical Senses PART 2 Vertebrate Taste 4. Development of the Taste Receptor Concept 5. Classification of Tastant Receptors 6. Evolution of Taste 7. In Vitro Pharmacology of Tastant Receptors 8. The Taste Bud: The Sensory Organelle for Taste 9. Innervation of the Taste Bud 10. Taste Signal Coding Logic 11. In Vivo Measurement of Taste 12. Discriminability: The Link between Taste and Receptor Occupancy 13. Genetics of Taste 14. Taste and Pathology PART 3 Vertebrate Olfaction 15. What Distinguishes Olfaction from Taste? 16. Evolution of Olfaction 17. Discovery and Classification of Odorant Receptors 18. Pharmacologic Characterization of Odorant-Receptor Interactions 19. Pharmacokinetics of Mucosa Complicates Translation from Recombinant Cell-based Pharmacology to In Vivo Olfaction 20. Neurology of Mammalian Olfactory Systems 21. Processing of Olfactory Signals Implicit in Peripheral and Central Structure and Function 22. Olfactory Cues and Behavioral Responses 23. Genetics of Olfaction 24. Olfaction and Pathology PART 4 Special Topics in the Chemosenses 28. Pheromones and the Vomeronasal Organ 29. Insect Chemosensory Biology 30. Detection of Chemical Signals by Aquatic Organisms