Our lab studies olfaction, the sense of smell. The lab’s basic research program is broadly focused on understanding damage and repair in the peripheral olfactory system, using cell culture and mouse models as well as human tissue and single-cell techniques. We utilize a brush biopsy method that allows us collect live olfactory mucosal cells from patients in clinic and analyze them by single cell RNA-Seq.

Current projects seek to identify changes in human olfactory mucosa in Alzheimer’s Disease; to understand how certain epigenetic complexes regulate adult olfactory neurogenesis; and to understand post-viral olfactory losses, specifically in those patients suffering from “long COVID” smell loss (ie. PASC hyposmia). There is a significant unmet need for effective therapies for anosmia, and the long term goal of these projects is to identify new treatment strategies.

We also study olfactory neuroblastoma, a cancer arising from olfactory epithelium: