Charles Zuker

Last updated
Charles S. Zuker
Born1957
NationalityChilean
Alma mater MIT
Scientific career
Fields Neuroscience
Institutions UC San Diego 1987–2009, Columbia University 2009–present
Doctoral advisor Harvey Lodish

Charles S. Zuker is a Chilean molecular geneticist and neurobiologist. Zuker is a Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and a Professor of Neuroscience at Columbia University. He has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1989.

Contents

Education and Academic life

Zuker was born in Arica, Chile in 1957. He attended el Colegio San Marcos in Arica, and later el Colegio San Ignacio in Santiago. In 1973, he moved to Viña del Mar to study Biology at the Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso in Chile, where he worked as an undergraduate student in the labs of Roberto Gonzalez and Sergio Marshall. He then went to graduate school at MIT where he obtained his Ph.D. with Harvey Lodish. Zuker did his postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley with Gerald Rubin. In 1987, he accepted a position as an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego. In 1989 he was given tenure and appointed an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Prior to moving to Columbia University in 2009, he was the Kevin and Tamara Kinsella Chair of Neurobiology and Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.

In addition to his academic appointments at the University of California and at Columbia University, Zuker was a Senior Fellow at the Janelia Research Campus from 2009-2017.

Career

His lab, in collaboration with Nick Ryba at the NIH, have transformed our understanding of mammalian taste. Beginning in the late 1990s Zuker and Ryba, along with other labs, identified and characterized the receptors and the cells mediating each of the five basic taste modalities: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. They then demonstrated that individual taste receptor cells are tuned to encode individual taste qualities, and are hardwired to trigger innate behaviors (like attraction to sweet and aversion to bitters).

In 2003, Zuker and Ryba were the first to use targeted expression of a novel receptor (RASSL) to activate a neural circuit in a behaving mouse, and profoundly changed its behavior: By expressing RASSL in sweet or bitter taste receptor cells they could drive the animal to be attracted, or averse, to the otherwise tasteless RASSL ligand.

In a set of milestone studies exploring the peripheral and central coding of taste, and combining molecular genetics, physiology, imaging, animal behavior, and optical control of neural circuits, Zuker and collaborators identified the circuits driving responses to the different taste stimuli, and showed that by manipulating the neurons representing sweet and bitter taste in the brain they could directly control an animal’s internal representation, sensory perception, and behavioral actions.

Zuker’s laboratory has also helped uncover the fundamental difference between liking sweet (i.e. the role of the taste system, activated by both sugars and artificial sweeteners) and wanting sugar (i.e. the strong desire for sugar). They showed that, in addition to the tongue, sugar acts in the gut to activate a novel neural circuit that communicates to the brain the presence of sugar. This gut-to-brain communication axis (also-known-as the gut-brain axis) is not activated by artificial sweeteners and functions as the principal conduit driving preference for sugar.

Prior to working on mammalian taste, his lab focused on signal transduction pathways in Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly), including vision, mechanotransduction and thermosensation.

Honors

2001 Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

2004 Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences

2006 Elected member, National Academy of Medicine

2014 Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Further reading

Notable Papers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R1</span> Member of the 25 known human bitter taste receptors

Taste receptor type 2 member 1 (TAS2R1/T2R1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R1 gene. It belongs to the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family and is related to class A-like GPCRs, they contain 7 transmembrane helix bundles and short N-terminus loop. Furthermore, TAS2R1 is member of the 25 known human bitter taste receptors, which enable the perception of bitter taste in the mouth cavity. Increasing evidence indicates a functional role of TAS2Rs in extra-oral tissues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R3</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R3 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R4</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R4 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R8</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 8 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R8 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R9</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 9 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R9 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R10</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 10 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R10 gene. The protein is responsible for bitter taste recognition in mammals. It serves as a defense mechanism to prevent consumption of toxic substances which often have a characteristic bitter taste.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R13</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 13 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R13 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R5</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 5 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R5 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R7</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 7 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R7 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS1R1</span> Protein

Taste receptor type 1 member 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS1R1 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS1R2</span> Protein

T1R2 - Taste receptor type 1 member 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS1R2 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS1R3</span> Mammalian protein found in Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 1 member 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS1R3 gene. The TAS1R3 gene encodes the human homolog of mouse Sac taste receptor, a major determinant of differences between sweet-sensitive and -insensitive mouse strains in their responsiveness to sucrose, saccharin, and other sweeteners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R39</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 39 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R39 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R40</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 40 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R40 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R41</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 41 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R41 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R45</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 45 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R45 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R30</span> Protein-coding gene in humans

Taste receptor type 2 member 30 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R30 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R19</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 19 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R19 gene. It seems to be involved in the perception of salt and bitter tastes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R20</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 20 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R20 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TAS2R60</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Taste receptor type 2 member 60 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R60 gene.