PASADENA, Calif. - Smell and memory go hand in hand. Our sense of smell profoundly influences our ability to recall past events and experiences, triggering emotions that can range from repulsion to desire.
Yet smell, along with taste, is also the most mysterious and least understood of our senses. California Institute of Technology neurobiologist Gilles Laurent studies the neuronal mechanisms underlying perception and behavior, focusing on olfactory coding: how are odors represented, learned, stored, and recognized by the brain? Thanks in great part to recent molecular discoveries, much of the beautifully ordered organization of olfactory circuits has been revealed. Physiological studies of these brain circuits reveal how single neurons get to respond very specifically to odors and serve as substrates for their memorization. On Wednesday, February 23, at 8 p.m., Laurent will summarize some of these recent advances in his talk, "The Sense of Smell: A Window into the Brain and Memory," part of the ongoing Ernest C. Watson Lecture Series that takes place on the Caltech campus.
Researchers study the questions of how odors are represented, learned, and recognized by the brain using, among others, such insects as fruit flies, locusts, and honeybees, animals whose brains are remarkably efficient and small. Because the designs of olfactory circuits are remarkably similar across species, Laurent, the Hanson Professor of Biology and Computation and Neural Systems, may ultimately apply his research to systems such as the human brain.
The talk will take place in Beckman Auditorium on the Caltech campus. Seating for this free public event is first-come, first-served, beginning at 7:30 p.m. For more information, contact Public Events at 1 (888) 2CALTECH, (626) 395-4652, or events@caltech.edu, or visit www.events.caltech.edu. Individuals with a disability can call 395-4688 (voice) or 395-3700 (TDD). All lectures will be available online at Caltech's Streaming Theater, http://today.caltech.edu/theater.