Association for Chemoreception Sciences

Association for Chemoreception Sciences
HeadquartersGlenview, IL, U.S.
Membership
600
President
Paul Breslin[1] (2023–2024)
Websiteachems.org

The Association for Chemoreception Sciences is an international professional society in the field of chemosensory science. It is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote and advance the interests of the science of senses such as taste and smell.[2]: 32  In order to do this, it holds an annual meeting that is a scientific forum[3] for the research community[4][5] and also provides outreach to the public about olfaction (smell), gustation (taste) and chemesthesis (trigeminal chemosensation).

The association was founded in 1978 by Maxwell M. Mozell, a neuroscientist at the State University of New York, with the help of a grant from the National Science Foundation.[2]: 31  The first research meeting was held in Sarasota, Florida, in April 1979.[6] Officers elected at the first meeting included Linda Bartoshuk, Rose Marie Pangborn and Gary Beauchamp.[7]

A meeting is held in April of each year that is attended by an international cohort of physicians and scientists.[2]: 31  This annual meeting consists of presentations on olfaction, gustation, and chemesthesis, as well as workshops sponsored by the National Institute of Health.[8] Commercial exhibitors also attend the event.[9] The organization has enjoyed strong support from the National Institute on Deafness and Communicative Disorders.[10] and its director.[11] In collaboration with two other scientific societies focused on the chemical senses – the European Chemosensory Research Organization and the Japanese Association for the Study of Taste and Smell – AChemS alternates as host of the quadrennial International Symposium for Olfaction and Taste. The last AChemS-hosted ISOT meeting took place in Portland, Oregon in August, 2020.[12]

In 2004, AChemS member Linda Buck and Richard Axel were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system".[13] To celebrate this honor, at the 2005 AChemS annual meeting, Buck and Axel were keynote speakers,[14] recapping their research published in the journal Cell in 1991,[15] which led to the Nobel award.

Chemical Senses, the official journal of the association, is published by Oxford University Press. The editor is Dr. Steven Munger; it was edited by Maxwell Mozell from 1992 until 1998.[2]: 32 

The Association gives a series of annual awards, including the Max Mozell Award, the Barry Jacobs Memorial Award,[16] the Ajinomoto Award,[17] and the Polak Young Investigator Award.[18] Travel awards are also given to diverse and young scientists to encourage their attendance at the meeting.[19]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference self was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference enc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Center for Smell and Taste » News Briefs". cst.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  4. ^ "29 Sep 1979, 127 – The Gazette at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  5. ^ "21 Apr 2016 – Fifth Sense's Duncan Boak At AChemS 2016 Meeting". 20 April 2016. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference mozell was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference self2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Wilson, Donald A.; Baker, Harriet; Brunjes, Peter; Gilbertson, Timothy A.; Hermer, Linda; Hill, David L.; Matsunami, Hiroaki; Meredith, Michael; Mistretta, Charlotte M. (2009). "Chemoreception Scientists Gather under the Florida Sun: The 31st Annual Association for Chemoreception Sciences Meeting". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1170 (Suppl 1): 1–11. Bibcode:2009NYASA1170....1W. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05047.x. ISSN 0077-8923. PMC 2873611. PMID 19712224.
  9. ^ "General news: Preparations for "AChemS Association for Chemoreception Sciences Exhibition" in Florida - Tobacco industry, Medical devices & Prototype construction". www.burghart-mt.de. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  10. ^ "Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS)". NIDCD. 2017-02-17. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  11. ^ "National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)". National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  12. ^ Finger, Thomas (2009). "International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1170: 1–749. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04927.x. PMID 19686096. S2CID 222082631.
  13. ^ "Nobel Award".
  14. ^ "AChemS 2005 Newsletter" (PDF).
  15. ^ Buck, Linda (1991). "A novel multigene family may encode odorant receptors: A molecular basis for odor recognition". Cell. 65 (1): 175–187. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(91)90418-X. PMID 1840504.
  16. ^ "Food Science professor wins national award for research excellence | Penn State University". Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  17. ^ "Oka Receives Young Investigator Award | Caltech". The California Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  18. ^ "Neurobiology and Behavior | Stony Brook University School of Medicine". medicine.stonybrookmedicine.edu. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  19. ^ "News Highlights | Office of Postdoctoral Affairs". opda.fsu.edu. Retrieved 2018-07-18.