George Preti Explained

George Preti
Birth Date:	7 October 1944
Birth Place:	Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Death Place:	Hatboro, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Fields:	organic chemist
Workplaces:	Monell Chemical Senses Center
Known For:	Research on human body odors and TMAU

George Preti (October 7, 1944 – March 3, 2020) was an analytical organic chemist who worked at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more than four decades, his research focused on the nature, origin, and functional significance of human odors. Dr. Preti's laboratory has identified characteristic underarm odorants,^[1] and his later studies centered 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.

Early life and education

Preti was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He received his B.S. in chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1966. He earned a 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.^[2] That same year he joined the Monell Center.

Career

Preti was also an adjunct professor in the Department of Dermatology of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Research

In addition to having published dozens of peer-reviewed research articles, Preti held more than a dozen patents related to deodorance, odor mediated control of the menstrual cycle, and the use of odors in disease diagnosis.^[3] His unique area of research resulted in hundreds of clinician-directed referrals of patients with an idiopathic body and oral malodor production problems. His efforts in this area revealed a large, undiagnosed population of people suffering from trimethylaminuria, an odor-producing genetic disorder.

Preti’s work has frequently been cited by the news media, including The New York Times magazine section,^[4] The Philadelphia Inquirer,^[5] and ABC’s “Primetime: Medical Mysteries”.^[6]

Publications

• 10.1109/JSEN.2009.2035670 . DNA-Coated Nanosensors for Breath Analysis . 2010 . Johnson . A. T. Charlie . Khamis . Samuel M. . Preti . George . Kwak . Jae . Gelperin . Alan . IEEE Sensors Journal . 10 . 1 . 159–66. 2010ISenJ..10..159J . 24496241 .
• 10.1098/rspb.2010.0162 . In search of the chemical basis for MHC odourtypes . 2010 . Kwak . J. . Willse . A. . Preti . G. . Yamazaki . K. . Beauchamp . G. K. . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 277 . 1693 . 20356897 . 2417–25 . 2894918.
• 10.1038/jid.2009.396 . Genetic Influences on Human Body Odor: From Genes to the Axillae . 2010 . Preti . George . Leyden . James J . Journal of Investigative Dermatology . 130 . 2 . 344–6 . 20081888. free .
• Web site: Charles J. . Wysocki . George . Preti . 2010 . Human pheromones: What's purported, what's supported . Sense of Smell Institute . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120619160750/http://www.senseofsmell.org/research/C.Wysocki-White-Paper-Human_Pheromones.pdf . 2012-06-19 .
• 10.1016/j.physbeh.2008.10.003 . Major histocompatibility complex-regulated odortypes: Peptide-free urinary volatile signals . 2009 . Kwak . Jae . Opiekun . Maryanne Curran . Matsumura . Koichi . Preti . George . Yamazaki . Kunio . Beauchamp . Gary K. . Physiology & Behavior . 96 . 18957300 . 184–8 . 1. 24567511 .
• 10.1021/jf901453r . Odor Detection of Mixtures of Homologous Carboxylic Acids and Coffee Aroma Compounds by Humans . 2009 . Miyazawa . Toshio . Gallagher . Michele . Preti . George . Wise . Paul M. . Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry . 57 . 21 . 9895–901 . 19817417.
• 10.1093/chemse/bjp062 . Psychometric Functions for Ternary Odor Mixtures and Their Unmixed Components . 2009 . Miyazawa . T. . Gallagher . M. . Preti . G. . Wise . P. M. . Chemical Senses . 34 . 9 . 753–61 . 19773409 . 2762054.
• 10.1007/s12078-009-9060-6 . Methodological Factors in Odor Detection by Humans . 2009 . Miyazawa . Toshio . Gallagher . Michelle . Preti . George . Wise . Paul M. . Chemosensory Perception . 2 . 4 . 195. 144279625 .

Death

He died on March 3, 2020, of bladder cancer in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.^{[7] [8]}

External links

• Dr. George Preti's homepage at Monell.org

Notes and References

1. News: Booth. William. Scientists Follow Scent to Underarm Discovery. The Washington Post. 1990-08-28.
2. 10.1016/1044-0305(94)85048-8 . The massachusetts institute of technology mass spectrometry school . 1994 . Biemann . Klaus . Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry . 5 . 5 . 332–338. 24222587 . free . 1994JASMS...5..332B .
3. Web site: Justia Patents. 2011-11-29.
4. News: Bunn. Austin. The War on Stink. The New York Times. 2000-10-15.
5. News: Avril. Tom. Chemist helps folks whose body odor's a bit fishy. The Philadelphia Inquirer. 2007-04-09.
6. Web site: The Model Who Smells Like Dead Fish. ABC News. 2011-11-29.
7. Web site: George Preti, 75, Dies; Studied Bodily Odors as Biological Clues. Roberts. Sam. The New York Times. April 1, 2020. April 1, 2020.
8. Web site: Monell Chemical Senses Center . www.monell.org . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20200321234021/http://www.monell.org/george_preti_tribute_hidden_disease_early_diagnoses . 2020-03-21.