Transport Mechanisms in Mammalian Taste Transduction
{'Code': '08090200', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'IOS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Christopher Platt', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
Taste is a complex process beginning in the tongue, where the                   surface layer of cells, the epithelium, contains taste buds.                    Many taste compounds probably bind to specific receptor molecules               on membrane of the taste sensory cells.  But salts form a whole                 class of tastants that produce ions in solution, and now are                    thought to stimulate the cells of the taste buds directly, by                   transport processes across the cell membrane.  These ions may use               specific channels in the membrane in a way similar to the use of                ionic channels in to stimulate excitable membranes of nerve and                 muscle.  Understanding taste transduction, by which a particular                stimulus specifically excites a sensory cell, is a major goal of                chemosensory systems research.                                                                                                                                  This project will approach taste transduction by linking                        experiments on the physiology of tongue epithelial tissue with                  neurophysiology of taste receptors.  In vitro tongue tissue will                be tested to precisely measure ionic flows, and a mathematical                  model of ionic transport processes across the epithelium will be                refined and expanded by comparisons to data from experiments.                   These data will be compared to known data on excitation of taste                nerves from neurophysiology experiments.  Experiments and                       modelling should resolve which aspects of taste transduction can                be explained by properties of the tongue epithelium.  The model                 incorporates organization of all the component membranes, and the               topology of the epithelium in which the taste buds are imbedded;                the model can be extended to include different cell types and                   different ions.  This study involves a novel quantitative                       approach to taste mechanisms, with a powerful merging of                        mathematics, chemistry, and biology; it may be useful in analyses               of tastant interactions by the food industry, and will have high                impact in chemosensory science and neurophysiology as well.
{'FirstName': 'Sheella', 'LastName': 'Mierson', 'PI_MID_INIT': None, 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Sheella Mierson', 'EmailAddress': 'mierson@brahms.udel.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000290499', 'StartDate': '07/15/1989', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Virginia Commonwealth University', 'CityName': 'RICHMOND', 'ZipCode': '232849005', 'PhoneNumber': '8048286772', 'StreetAddress': '910 WEST FRANKLIN ST', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Virginia', 'StateCode': 'VA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '04', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'VA04', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'MLQFL4JSSAA9', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '1185', 'Text': 'SENSORY SYSTEMS'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8819253.xml'}