Dr. Sarah Woodley, assistant professor of biology at Duquesne University, will discuss "Pheromones and Mate Recognition" at Westminster College, Thursday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. in Phillips Lecture Hall located in the Hoyt Science Resources Center.

 "She will discuss how pheromones involved in mate recognition are detected and processed by the nervous system," said Dr. Ann Throckmorton, associate professor of biology at Westminster College.  "Pheromones are chemicals secreted by an animal that influences the behavior or development of others of the same species, often functioning as an attractant of the opposite sex.  Her work was done with ferrets, which are a good model system for understanding how humans process pheromones."

 "This is particularly timely because the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology was just awarded to Axel and Buck for their work on the molecular biology of how orders, including pheromones, are detected by sensory neurons in the nose," Throckmorton continued.  "She will conclude by talking about more recent work she is doing on salamanders, looking at how sex steroids hormones like estrogen modulate the detection of courtship pheromones."

 The event is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Throckmorton at (724) 946-7209 or e-mail athrock@westminster.edu.

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