I smell a winner: Linking plant olfactory stimuli to genetic regulation

All creatures communicate through odor; the ability to smell informs such environmental cues as detecting food or evading danger. Research by Ayumi Nagashima–Kasahara demonstrates that like most animals, plants also detect and respond to odorants known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.

Ayumi Nagashima–Kasahara

Nagashima–Kasahara had a unique introduction to plant science — performing research under the guidance of her high school biology teacher. "We studied seed dispersal, which for ants is driven by odorants given off by elaiosomes, which are rich in lipids and proteins," she said. "Normally, ants go straight to the elaiosome, but one day, they didn't. … The results were surprising, that ants may select efficient prey by smell."

This experience motivated her to pursue a research career. As an undergraduate at the University of Tokyo in Kazushige Touhara's lab, she studied the fate of odorants in olfactory mucus before they bind to receptors, and she later studied molecular mechanisms of plant odor perception as a grad student and postdoc. She received the 2020 JBC Herbert Tabor Early Career Investigator Award for her contributions as first author on a paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Due to maternity leave, her talk was postponed to 2021.

Outside the lab, Nagashima–Kasahara spends time with her husband and two children, ages one and five. "My children are my pride and joy," she said, "but they're little, so they don't really understand my job."

She tries to help them understand with science- and health-focused picture books and comic books called manga. In one book, the main character is a white blood cell battling pathogens; in another comic, astronauts perform crystallography in space for new ALS treatments for.

Nagashima–Kasahara is interested in science, art and education and especially loves engaging with budding scientists. "Some students can't get the opportunities I did, or have good science education," she said. "I want to pay it forward and help the next generation."

She hopes one day to make her own science illustrated books or manga for young children.