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News Release

Last modified: Monday, October 17, 2011

IU’s Gill Center honors neuroscientists Marc Caron and Leslie Vosshall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 17, 2011

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Neuroscientists from Duke University and The Rockefeller University will be honored this week at the annual Gill Symposium of the Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science at Indiana University Bloomington.

Marc G. Caron, James B. Duke Professor in the Departments of Cell Biology and Neurobiology and research professor in the Department of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, will receive the 2011 Gill Award. The recipient of the 2011 Gill Young Investigator Award is Leslie B. Vosshall, Robin Chemers Neustein Professor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior at The Rockefeller University. These awards recognize exceptional scientists who have emerged as international leaders in cellular, membrane or molecular neuroscience.

Gerry Oxford, executive director of the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute at the IU School of Medicine, said Caron is highly regarded as a "skilled and enthusiastic teacher." Oxford said Caron's research focuses on how small signaling molecules such as the monoamines produce their physiological effects. His talk is titled "Monoaminergic neurotransmission in health and disease."

"Dr. Caron's work represents a powerful combination of genetics, molecular biology, cell physiology and behavioral analysis frankly unparalleled in this field," Oxford said.

Vosshall's research focuses on how complex behaviors such as the detection of odors are modulated by external cues and internal physiological states.

"Her findings have played a pivotal role in understanding how compounds, including those in insect repellants, interfere with an insect's ability to smell," said Justin Kumar, associate professor in the Department of Biology at IU Bloomington.

Kumar said Vosshall's research also involves understanding how a woman's ability to detect and respond to certain compounds in male sweat is related to the expression of specific odorant receptors. Her talk is titled "The Genetics of Smell Perception: Humans, Flies and Mosquitoes."

The 2011 Gill Symposium will take place on Wednesday (Oct. 19) in the Indiana Memorial Union at IU Bloomington. For more information about the symposium, please visit: https://www.indiana.edu/~gillctr/symposiums.shtml.

The Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science was established by a generous gift from Linda and Jack Gill to advance the understanding of complex biological processes and to train next generation of scientists in biomolecular measurements, especially in the field of neuroscience. Members and collaborators include faculty from IU's departments of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Psychological and Brain Sciences and the School of Medicine. For more information, visit https://www.indiana.edu/~gillctr/.

For more information about the Gill Symposium or the Gill Center please contact Misty Theodore at 812-856-1930 or mtheodor@indiana.edu. To speak with Marc Caron, please e-mail him at m.caron@cellbio.duke.edu. To speak with Vosshall, please contact Barbara Ghelardi at 212-327-7227 or ghelarb@rockefeller.edu.

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