William S. Cain, Ph.D. Professor of Surgery

e-mail: wcain@ucsd.edu
phone: (858) 622-5831

Dr. William S. Cain became professor of surgery (otolaryngology) at the University of California, San Diego in 1994. Dr. Cain received his B.S. from Fordham and his Ph.D. from Brown. He spent 27 years at the John B. Pierce Laboratory at Yale University where he was professor of environmental health and psychology. His research focuses on the human sense of smell and the irritation sense. He has worked on both basic and applied issues of chemosensory perception. His work has had application to indoor air quality, use of odors to warn of hazards, aging and the perception of food, and the evaluation of olfactory functioning in patients. Dr. Cain has served as head of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences and as president of the New York Academy of Sciences. He has been elected fellow in such diverse societies as the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, Academy of Indoor Air Sciences, and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers. He has served on various panels or committees for the National Institutes of Health and the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, most recently the Advisory Group for Strategies to Protect the Health of U.S. Forces.

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J. Enrique Cometto-Muñiz, Ph.D. Research Scientist

e-mail: ecometto@ucsd.edu
phone: (858) 622-5832

Dr. J. Enrique Cometto-Muñiz is a biochemist specialized in the study of the human chemical senses (smell, chemical sensory irritation, taste). He graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry at the University of Buenos Aires as Licentiate in Clinical Analysis (March, 1977), Biochemist (December, 1977), and Doctor in Biochemistry (December, 1986). He rose from Research Fellow to Adjunct Investigator at the National Council for Science and Technology of Argentina (CONICET) (1978-1993), and from Teaching Assistant to Adjunct Professor at the University of Buenos Aires (1976-1993). Relocated to the United States, he was appointed, first, Visiting Assistant Fellow (1988-1991) and, then, Assistant Fellow (1991-1994) at the John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven and Associate Scientist at Yale University (1988-1994). In July, 1994, Dr. Cometto-Muñiz joined the Department of Surgery (Otolaryngology) of the University of California, San Diego and helped to start the Chemosensory Perception Laboratory where he is, at present, Research Scientist.

Dr. Cometto-Muñiz's research focuses on stimulus-response relationships between chemicals (odorants, tastants, irritants) and corresponding sensations (odor, taste, irritation). He is co-founder of the first Argentinean research group on the human chemical senses, supported by the CONICET. Since the early '80s much of his work has been centered on the study of nasal pungency (irritation) and odor from airborne chemicals and, more recently, on eye irritation. Over the past years, his studies have pioneered testing subjects who lack the sense of smell (anosmics) in order to separate the trigeminal from the olfactory response of the nose to pungent odorants of selected chemical classes. Systematic testing of such chemical families can unveil the physicochemical basis for the sensory impact of these substances.

In 1993, Dr. Cometto-Muñiz was awarded the Moskowitz-Jacobs Inc. AChemS Award for Research Excellence In The Psychophysics of Taste And Smell.

Dr. Cometto-Muñiz is funded by grants from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Roland Schmidt, Ph.D. Research Associate

e-mail: roschmidt@ucsd.edu
phone: (858) 622-5833

Dr. Roland Schmidt received his M.S. in Biology in 1989 and his Ph.D. in Animal Physiology in 1993 from the University of Tübingen, Germany. His graduate work helped to develop an animal model for the risk assessment of airborne chemicals on neuronal structures. His own research focused on the effects of formaldehyde on the olfactory epithelium. In 1994, Dr. Schmidt accepted a position as Postdoctoral Associate at the John B. Pierce Laboratory at Yale University. Here he began his work in human olfactory psychophysics by conducting experiments in indoor air quality to determine the sensory effects of emissions from common building materials. In addition, he became involved in studies on thermal comfort during exercise under different environmental conditions. In 1998, Dr. Schmidt joined the Chemosensory Perception Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Fellow. His current research includes both basic and applied issues of chemosensory perception.

Craig Warren, Ph.D. Visiting Scholar

e-mail: craigbw@aol.com

Craig Warren is a Visiting Scholar at UCSD. In his previous career he was Vice President and Director of Fragrance Science at International Flavors and Fragrance, a company headquartered in New York City that specializes in the creation and manufacture of flavors and fragrances. Dr. Warren's publications and patents range from biodegradation of detergent builders to measurement of the mood benefit of fragrances. He has a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Cornell University, a M.S. in biochemistry from Villanova University and a B.A. in chemistry from Franklin & Marshall College.

Evan Moreno-Davis Research Assistant

Evan Moreno-Davis graduated from Pomona College in 2001 with a double major in neuroscience and linguistics/cognitive science. While there he spent a year and a half in a psychology lab, studying the effects of hormones on neuropsychological functioning. He subsequently received an M.A. in philosophy from UCSD; his thesis examined the role of emotion in attributions of moral responsiblity.

e-mail: emorenodavis@ucsd.edu

Karl Balch received a B.A. in psychology from the University of Southern California with a minor in natural science in 2005. He has previously worked in behavorial genetics, neural prosthetics, immunohistochemistry, and schizophrenia genetics. He is currently working on chemosensory threshold research in the laboratory.

e-mail: krbalch@ucsd.edu

Teddy Chang Research Assistant

Theodore Chang graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a B.S. Degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2005. He has worked for a microhemodynamics laboratory for 2 years investigating the mechanical properties of artificial blood in arterioles and capillaries. Theodore is now working as a laboratory assistant in UCSD's Chemosensory Perception laboratory, where he investigates perception thresholds of volatile organic chemicals.

e-mail: tchang@ucsd.edu

Jessica Keeley Research Assistant

Jessica Keeley received a B.A. in Biological Basis of Behavior and Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. She previously worked studying feeding behavior and regulatory systems neuroscience while at Penn.

e-mail: jakeeley@ucsd.edu

Michael Moiseyev Research Assistant

Michael Moiseyev is a UCSD undergraduate majoring in bioengineering. He is currently working on building a dual-channel vapor delivery device that will deliver volatile organic compounds in precise concentrations and for precise time periods.

e-mail: mmoiseye@ucsd.edu

Uyen Diem Phan Research Assistant

Diem is a graduate of University of California, San Diego.

e-mail: uphan@ucsd.edu

Christine Santiago Research Assistant

Christine Santiago is a recent graduate from San Diego State University. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Science and a minor in Chemistry in December 2006. She is currently working on determining cutoff in detection of eye irritation from vapors of homologous ketones and alkyl benzenes for our laboratory. She enjoys married life and if she decides to pursue further education it will be in an animal research field with an emphasis on conservation and education.

e-mail: cmsantiago@ucsd.edu

Sumana Jothi Research Fellow

e-mail: sumanaj@yahoo.com