A multitude of chemical and mechanical receptors in the mouth pass information to neurons about an item’s taste, temperature, and texture. Those neurons send messages to different parts of the brain that converge with aroma to produce the perception of flavor. UM’s Nirupa Chaudhari is studying just how nerves transmit that information and whether they modify the information as they pass it along to the brain?

“How precisely is that information coded and does the hardware, the nerve carrying the signal, confer any information?” asks Chaudhari. “These are really important neurological questions and they are also related to clinical questions about how information is coded when people develop eating or metabolic disorders. If a specific part of the circuitry stops working, would appetite change or might sugar be avoided?”

• Nirupa Chaudhari