Jennifer Pluznick

You smell with your body, not just your nose

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About Jennifer Pluznick

Jennifer Pluznick’s fascination with understanding how interactions at the molecular level affect functions at the organismal level led her to pursue a Ph.D. in Renal Physiology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. While researching kidney disease as part of her postdoc at Yale University, Jennifer Pluznick came across scent receptors in the kidney. She initially wrote off this surprising finding as a fluke, but after taking a second look, she realized how important this discovery could be for understanding kidney function. Since 2010, Jennifer and her lab at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have researched the role of the olfactory signaling system. Most recently, they’ve found a possible connection between the bacteria in your gut and how your kidney manages blood pressure. 

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About This Talk

Jennifer Pluznick and her lab at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine study the role of our body's olfactory signaling system. While we generally think of olfactory receptors as being found in the nose, they are actually found throughout the body—from our muscles to our blood vessels. Watch Jennifer's 2016 TEDMED Talk to learn how studying the full body olfactory system can shape our understanding of important bodily processes and human physiology.

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