Stephen Liberles, Ph.D.

Stephen Liberles, Ph.D. is a Professor and HHMI Investigator in the Cell Biology Department at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Liberles received an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Harvard in 1994, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard in 1999, working in the lab of Stuart Schreiber. He then performed post-doctoral work in the lab of Linda Buck, first at Harvard Medical School and then at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

The Liberles Lab focuses on the molecular neuroscience of sensory systems, including olfaction, pheromone sensing, taste, and internal organ senses of the vagus nerve. Some discoveries from his lab include characterizing non-classical families of olfactory receptors, odors and pheromones that stimulate innate behaviors, vagus nerve cell types that selectively control autonomic physiology, and mechanisms underlying sensation within internal organs, including airway stretch and changes in aortic blood pressure.