Association for Chemoreception Sciences

{{Short description|International chemosensory science learned society}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = Association for Chemoreception Sciences

| image =

| headquarters = Glenview, IL, U.S.

| membership = 600

| leader_title = President

| leader_name = Alfredo Fontanini{{r|self}} (2024{{ndash}}2025)

| website = {{URL|achems.org}}

}}

The Association for Chemoreception Sciences is an international professional society in the field of chemosensory science. It is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote and advance the interests of the science of senses such as taste and smell.{{r|enc|page=32}} In order to do this, it holds an annual meeting that is a scientific forum{{Cite web|url=http://cst.ufl.edu/tag/news-briefs|title=Center for Smell and Taste » News Briefs|website=cst.ufl.edu|language=en-US|access-date=2018-08-09}} for the research community{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/422198417|title=29 Sep 1979, 127 – The Gazette at Newspapers.com|work=Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-07-18|language=en}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.fifthsense.org.uk/fifth-senses-duncan-boak-at-achems-2016-meeting-blog-post-1/|title=21 Apr 2016 – Fifth Sense's Duncan Boak At AChemS 2016 Meeting|date=20 April 2016 |access-date=2018-07-20}} and also provides outreach to the public about olfaction (smell), gustation (taste) and chemesthesis (trigeminal chemosensation).

The association was founded in 1978 by Maxwell M. Mozell, a neuroscientist at the State University of New York, with the help of a grant from the National Science Foundation.{{r|enc|page=31}} The first research meeting was held in Sarasota, Florida, in April 1979.{{r|mozell}} Officers elected at the first meeting included Linda Bartoshuk, Rose Marie Pangborn and Gary Beauchamp.{{r|self2}}

A meeting is held in April of each year that is attended by an international cohort of physicians and scientists.{{r|enc|page=31}} This annual meeting consists of presentations on olfaction, gustation, and chemesthesis, as well as workshops sponsored by the National Institute of Health.{{Cite journal|last1=Wilson|first1=Donald A.|last2=Baker|first2=Harriet|last3=Brunjes|first3=Peter|last4=Gilbertson|first4=Timothy A.|last5=Hermer|first5=Linda|last6=Hill|first6=David L.|last7=Matsunami|first7=Hiroaki|last8=Meredith|first8=Michael|author9-link=Charlotte Mistretta|last9=Mistretta|first9=Charlotte M.|date=2009|title=Chemoreception Scientists Gather under the Florida Sun: The 31st Annual Association for Chemoreception Sciences Meeting|journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences|volume=1170|issue=Suppl 1 |pages=1–11|doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05047.x|issn=0077-8923|pmc=2873611|pmid=19712224|bibcode=2009NYASA1170....1W }} Commercial exhibitors also attend the event.{{Cite web|url=https://www.burghart-mt.de/en/news/news-detail/general-news-preparations-for-achems-association-for-chemoreception-sciences-exhibition-in-florida.html|title=General news: Preparations for "AChemS Association for Chemoreception Sciences Exhibition" in Florida - Tobacco industry, Medical devices & Prototype construction|website=www.burghart-mt.de|language=en|access-date=2018-07-18}} The organization has enjoyed strong support from the National Institute on Deafness and Communicative Disorders.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/directory/association-chemoreception-sciences-achems|title=Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS)|date=2017-02-17|work=NIDCD|access-date=2018-07-18|language=en}} and its director.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/nih-almanac/national-institute-deafness-other-communication-disorders-nidcd#director|title=National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)|date=2015-07-09|work=National Institutes of Health (NIH)|access-date=2018-07-18|language=en}} In collaboration with two other scientific societies focused on the chemical senses – the European Chemosensory Research Organization and the Japanese Association for the Study of Taste and Smell – AChemS alternates as host of the quadrennial International Symposium for Olfaction and Taste. The last AChemS-hosted ISOT meeting took place in Portland, Oregon in August, 2020.{{Cite journal|last=Finger|first=Thomas|date=2009|title=International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste|journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences|volume=1170|pages=1–749|doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04927.x|pmid=19686096 |s2cid=222082631 }}

In 2004, AChemS member Linda Buck and Richard Axel were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system".{{Cite web|url=https://www.hhmi.org/news/richard-axel-and-linda-buck-awarded-2004-nobel-prize-physiology-or-medicine|title=Nobel Award}} To celebrate this honor, at the 2005 AChemS annual meeting, Buck and Axel were keynote speakers,{{Cite web|url=http://achems.org/web/newsletters/Winter2005Newsletter.pdf|title=AChemS 2005 Newsletter}} recapping their research published in the journal Cell in 1991,{{Cite journal|last=Buck|first=Linda|date=1991|title=A novel multigene family may encode odorant receptors: A molecular basis for odor recognition|doi=10.1016/0092-8674(91)90418-X|journal=Cell|volume=65|issue=1 |pages=175–187|pmid=1840504|doi-access=free}} which led to the Nobel award.

Chemical Senses, the official journal of the association, is published by Oxford University Press. The editor is Dr. Steven Munger; it was edited by Maxwell Mozell from 1992 until 1998.{{r|enc|page=32}}

The Association gives a series of annual awards, including the Max Mozell Award, the Barry Jacobs Memorial Award,{{Cite news|url=https://news.psu.edu/story/407993/2016/05/02/academics/food-science-professor-wins-national-award-research-excellence|title=Food Science professor wins national award for research excellence {{!}} Penn State University|access-date=2018-08-09|language=en}} the Don Tucker Memorial Award, {{Cite web|url=https://achems.org/web/awards-tucker.php |title=Don Tucker Memorial Award |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241103171022/https://achems.org/web/awards-tucker.php|url-status=live |archive-date=2024-11-03 |website=achems.org|access-date=2025-03-22|language=en-US{{!}}}} the Ajinomoto Award,{{Cite news|url=http://www.caltech.edu/news/oka-receives-young-investigator-award-81795|title=Oka Receives Young Investigator Award {{!}} Caltech|work=The California Institute of Technology|access-date=2018-07-18|language=en}} and the Polak Young Investigator Award.{{Cite web|url=https://medicine.stonybrookmedicine.edu/neurobiology|title=Neurobiology and Behavior {{!}} Stony Brook University School of Medicine|website=medicine.stonybrookmedicine.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-07-18}} Travel awards are also given to diverse and young scientists to encourage their attendance at the meeting.{{Cite web|url=https://opda.fsu.edu/news/news-highlights|title=News Highlights {{!}} Office of Postdoctoral Affairs|website=opda.fsu.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-07-18}}