Andrew Chess studies the specialized nerve cells responsible for the sense of smell. Work in the Chess lab is leading to better understanding of the way the brain distinguishes among odors in the environment. Olfactory neurons divide and regenerate throughout life; thus, his results also have implications for improved treatment of spinal cord and brain injuries.
Chess, who was appointed an Associate Member of the
Whitehead Institute and assistant professor of biology
at MIT in August 1996, received his MD from Columbia
University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1990.
Subsequently, he served first as a postdoctoral research
fellow and then associate research scientist at the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Center for Neurobiology
and Behavior at Columbia. In September 1997, he received
the Robert A. Swanson Career Development Professorship
in the Life Sciences at MIT. Chess was appointed associate
professor of biology at MIT in July 2001.
Chess is currently a member of the newly formed Center
for Human Genetic Research (CHGR) of Massachusetts General
Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS). He
is an Associate Professor of Medicine at MGH and HMS.
Until the new building which will house the CHGR opens
in the summer of 2005, his lab will remain at Whitehead
and he will be a visiting scientist.
