The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Brain Insight Lecture Series is pleased to welcome Nobel Laureate, Richard Axel, MD, on November 4, 2015, as one of our keynote speakers this year. Dr. Axel is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the co-director of the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute.
A series of pioneering studies by Dr. Axel has answered the question, how does the brain know what the nose is smelling, by clarifying in exquisite detail how the sense of smell works. It is for this work, that Dr. Axel and fellow Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Linda B. Buck won the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Today, Axel’s research continues to focus on olfactory perception, in particular, how the sense of smell is established during development, how it may change over time, and ultimately how certain smells can elicit appropriate thoughts and behaviors.
