PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Each sensory system (smell, taste, touch, hearing and vision) has peripheral and specialized receptors. Sensory systems then perform a series of common functions that allow the specific information to be integrated by the brain. The symposium held at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, USA) from 13-15 January 2010 brought together leaders – among them Martin Chalfie (Columbia University, USA), Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (2008); as well as Richard Axel (Columbia University, USA) and Linda B. Buck (University of Washington – HHMI, USA), both Nobel Laureate in Medicine (2004) - who discussed and compared the molecular events and higher cognition that occurs in the chemosensory, somatosensory, auditory and the visual systems.
