Olfaction, taste, and pheromone perception
The Carlson Lab studies the molecules, cells, and circuits that underlie olfaction, taste, and pheromone recognition. They use Drosophila, whose chemosensory systems can be conveniently studied with molecular, genetic, electrophysiological, behavioral, and computational analysis. They also study mosquitoes that are vectors of global disease. One of the most ancient and fundamental problems in biology is how an animal identifies a suitable mating partner. The lab identified a cluster of four receptor genes, IR52a, b, c, and d, which act in this process in Drosophila. Some of the neurons in which they are expressed are activated by exposure to members of the same species, but not by a closely related species. Optogenetic activation of some of these neurons drives males over the species barrier to show sexual behavior towards a distantly related species. They are now exploring mechanisms by which these receptors, and the neurons and circuits they define, act in mate detection. The Carlson Lab is also interested in how mosquitoes and tsetse flies use their chemosensory systems to detect and locate human hosts. The work may lead to new means of controlling the transmission of global infectious diseases that afflict hundreds of millions of people each year.
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Biography
John Carlson received an AB from Harvard and a PhD from Stanford. Following postdoctoral work at Stanford, he joined the Yale faculty as an Assistant Professor. He enjoys teaching a large undergraduate class and serves on the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academies. Besides science, he enjoys shinrin-yoku and French novels.