Citizenship USA Name George Preti | Fields Organic chemistry | |
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Institutions Monell Chemical Senses Center Known for Research on human body odors and TMAU Residence Pennsylvania, United States Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Polytechnic Institute of New York University | ||
TMAU 5th Webinar: Overview of TMAU.
Dr. George Preti is an analytical organic chemist currently working at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more than four decades, his research has focused upon the nature, origin and functional significance of human odors. Dr. Preti's laboratory has identified characteristic underarm odorants, and his current studies center upon a bioassay-guided approach to the identification of human pheromones, odors diagnostic of human disease, human malodor identification and suppression and examining the “odor-print” of humans.
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Background
George Preti was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1966, and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1971 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a specialty in Organic Mass Spectrometry in the laboratory of Professor Klaus Biemann. That same year he joined the Monell Center. Dr. Preti is also currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Dermatology of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Research
In addition to dozens of peer-reviewed research articles, Dr. Preti holds more than a dozen patents related to deodorance, odor mediated control of the menstrual cycle and the use of odors in disease diagnosis. His unique area of research has resulted in hundreds of clinician-directed referrals of patients with idiopathic body and oral malodor production problems. His efforts in this area have revealed a large, undiagnosed population of people suffering from trimethylaminuria (TMAU), an odor-producing genetic disorder.
Dr. Preti’s work has frequently been cited in print and electronic media, including the New York Times magazine section, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and ABC’s “Primetime: Medical Mysteries”.