Charles Zuker

Dr. Charles Zuker is a Professor of Biochemistry; Professor of Molecular Biophysics; and Professor of Neuroscience in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (HHMI) and recently ended his 6-year tenure as a Senior fellow at the HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus. Zuker studies how the brain represents our sensory experiences and how it transforms reception into perception. The Zuker lab has integrated molecular biology, genetics, and physiology to study the biology of photoreception, mechanoreception, and more recently taste reception. The Zuker lab has made huge advances in the understanding of sight and hearing. They've also discovered taste receptors for four of the five tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, and "umami" (savory). Salt is the fifth, and it's only a matter of time before Zuker tracks it down. Perhaps more important than just discovering the receptors is Zuker's research showing that each taste cell is hardwired for one taste. Scientists used to think that every taste bud could pick up on all five tastes, and that a different signal would be sent to the brain for each one. Zuker's lab did experiments with mice that proved that taste cells are simpler than that. Each taste cell has only receptors for one taste modality. And each cell sends a specific signal to the brain. Zuker’s research currently focuses around three themes: (1) the biology of mammalian taste, (2) sensory signaling and processing in Drosophila melanogaster, and (3) spatial learning. Zuker has received numerous awards for his work, including an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the W. Alden Spencer Award, the Cogan Award, and the International Flavor and Fragrances Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences Membership. His articles appear in diverse journals including Cell, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.