Nancy Rawson, Executive VP, Monell Chemical Senses Center
How are the residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the population today? That’s one of the questions researchers at Monell Chemical are currently pursuing. In an interview with Invest:, Executive VP Nancy Rawson highlights the ongoing developments in metabolism research, the importance of olfactory health, and how technology innovation and AI are advancing key research developments currently happening at the center.
What have been some key milestones for Monell Chemical in the past 12 months?
It has been an exciting year for our center. In spring 2025, we welcomed three new faculty members with diverse research backgrounds.
One of our new faculty members joins us from Duke University and is an expert in metabolism and obesity, specifically how the brain regulates food intake and appetite. Kyle Burger rounds out a trio of sensory nutrition scientists who are focused on understanding how metabolism is controlled and the function of the gut-brain axis in this process.
We have also welcomed to our team a husband-and-wife research duo whose work intersects with the center’s focus. Neeraj Lal studies metabolic changes in animals during hibernation. Understanding how organisms survive long periods with minimal energy consumption could unlock new pathways in brain and metabolic regulation, potentially addressing issues related to obesity, diabetes, and even neurodegenerative diseases like dementia.
Meanwhile, Phuong Li is developing innovative techniques to study protein interactions in living organisms. By creating biochemical tools that visualize protein-to-protein interactions in real-time, this research is expected to open new avenues across multiple scientific fields. We are thrilled to have them join us in this exciting new era for our center, and we are pleased that we were able to meet their needs for working in a single location to help make their transition in their scientific careers with a young family just a little easier.
What key trends are currently shaping the chemosensory research industry?
A few years ago, COVID and its effects dominated discussions. It turns out COVID is still with us. Many people have long COVID and have yet to recover their sense of smell. Looking ahead, one of the biggest initiatives and needs is addressing the long-term impact on those who had COVID. Even those who regained their sense of smell will continue aging and face exposure to other flu strains and viruses. The flu is now more prevalent than it has been in years, and various viruses continue to spread. Each of these carries the risk of causing smell loss again, shaping the population’s sensory experience in the future.
To address this, we are advocating for widespread smell testing. We have launched a multisector initiative called The Breakthrough Consortium for Olfactory Health to conduct the work needed to demonstrate the economic impact of widespread sensory impairment and to identify the hurdles in improving the patient experience. While most people routinely have their vision and hearing tested, smell testing remains uncommon, rarely covered by insurance, and primarily conducted by small groups of specialists. This presents both an access and cost problem — two key challenges we are tackling in a focused way. The multisector consortium brings together start-up companies, venture capital, universities, and NIH to work on this project. This is a critical issue, and many industries have expressed interest in supporting and recognizing the value of this work.
We are also seeing growing interest in multisensory marketing and multisensory flavor creation, which considers not just taste and smell but also texture and chemical stimuli to create a fuller flavor experience. There is important work to be done in bringing this information to the public in a way that aligns with different cultural norms and preferences.
Another key issue is the direct and indirect effects of GLP-1 medications on flavor perception and food preference. There is strong evidence that people taking GLP-1 drugs experience changes in taste, including increased sensitivity to sweets and other sensory shifts. We are working to collect more data in this area, as the flavor industry seeks to understand how these drugs alter people’s perceptions of taste and smell. For those who stop taking the drug due to the common side effect of nausea, we don’t yet understand how the body adjusts, and in some cases, weight regain is equal to or even greater than prior weight. Monell is uniquely qualified to explore these issues as we work collaboratively across nutrition, sensory science, and behavior.
In what ways is technology improving the research process?
Take, for example, the digitization of smell. One notable startup in this space is Osmo, a company spun out of Google. We have collaborated to help develop their initial technologies. They have successfully digitized odors by converting them into binary information, transmitting the data, and then recreating the scent at another location. Essentially, they translate an odor into a numerical code that allows it to be reconstructed elsewhere. This work was built on some foundational research done at Monell in which our researchers, led by Joel Mainland, developed rigorous methods to acquire human perceptual data for hundreds of odors in a way that was highly reliable and consistent enough to support mathematical models able to predict whether any chemical structure could be detected by the human nose and even whether it would be pleasant or unpleasant! While this technology is currently limited to single odors, thanks to work at our center and other institutions, significant progress is being made to advance the approach for use with complex odor mixtures. The day is approaching when “smell-a-vision,” or the ability to transmit complex and recognizable odors, becomes a reality. Advances in digital algorithms, coding, and supporting hardware are moving this concept forward rapidly.
How does an interdisciplinary approach help foster innovation?
Collaboration is key. The world is extremely complex, and we can be experts in different areas, but we cannot be experts in all areas. Understanding how to collaborate across sectors, where you know people have different goals, is essential. At Monell, we have had these types of collaborations for more than 55 years, and we have developed tools and techniques to leverage collaboration in a very effective way. People who want to succeed in the world of the future will need to adapt these techniques. Collaboration allows for creative problem solving, especially when people of different perspectives with a common purpose come together. Science and technology innovation is a very competitive world, and the more that we help each other succeed, the more effective we can all be. There is a very empowering atmosphere that is created through collaboration.
What are the current challenges facing the chemosensory research enterprise?
The current funding climate is very challenging for those in academia. To combat this, we are assessing all our current processes to find ways to be more efficient or to consolidate activities. This is an important process for all organizations to go through, which is one piece to have in your toolbox. And of course, we are looking at ways to increase revenue. We have our corporate partnership program called the Monell Insiders program, which creates new ways for companies to interact with the center. We also have an extensive network of patients with smell and taste disorders who have been very supportive of our work over the years. Our ability to tell our stories with passion and connect with new audiences will enhance our ability to raise funds beyond the federal grant process. Our work touches on many areas of importance to the health and wellness of our planet and its occupants. This positions Monell well to weather the storms ahead. Our Executive Director, Ben Smith, likes to say, “It isn’t about hiding from the rain – it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
What opportunities do you see for Monell Chemical Senses Center in the coming years?
There is a tremendous opportunity in the space for improved metabolic drugs for obesity. The ones currently in the market exhibit a number of unpleasant side effects such as nausea, and work at the Center by Amber Alhadeff and her team has revealed specific brain pathways that can discriminate the satiating effect from the nausea effect. Understanding how these drugs alter taste and smell is important to address the difficulty people have in maintaining the weight loss long-term. We are wired to eat what tastes good. Developing ways to match food products with a new flavor palate will be essential for successful adherence and food security. Monell is positioned well to apply our expertise to make a difference for both the people working to maintain healthy weight and the industries who need to support them. Another area is looking at how chemosensory receptors, the taste and smell receptors, which exist throughout the body, outside of the nose and mouth, in places such as the gut, heart and kidneys, influence a person’s health. Based on our deep knowledge of how these receptors function in the nose and mouth we are working to understand how these other pathways influence our health.
