George Preti (October 7, 1944 – March 3, 2020) was an analytical

organic chemist Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

who worked at the

Monell Chemical Senses Center The Monell Chemical Senses Center is a non-profit independent scientific institute located at the University City Science Center campus in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania. Monell conducts and publishes interdisciplinary basic research on taste, Olfa ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, 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, 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 Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. He received his B.S. in

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

from the

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...

in 1966. He earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1971 from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, with a specialty in organic mass spectrometry in the laboratory of Professor

Klaus Biemann Klaus Biemann (November 2, 1926 – June 2, 2016) was an Austrian-American professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work centered on structural analysis in organic and biochemistry. He has been called the "father ...

. 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 The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

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 The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that make pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs a ...

, and the use of odors in disease diagnosis. 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 Trimethylaminuria (TMAU), also known as fish odor syndrome or fish malodor syndrome, is a rare metabolic disorder that causes a defect in the normal production of an enzyme named flavin-containing monooxygenase 3 (''FMO3''). When ''FMO3'' is not w ...

, an odor-producing genetic disorder. Preti’s work has frequently been cited by the news media, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' magazine section, ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', and ABC’s “Primetime: Medical Mysteries”.

Publications

* * * * * * * *

Death

He died on March 3, 2020, of bladder cancer in

Hatboro, Pennsylvania Hatboro (known locally as the Boro) is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,238 at the 2020 census. History The town of Hatboro is located on land purchased from William Penn by the family of Nichol ...

References

External links

Dr. George Preti's homepage at Monell.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preti, George 1944 births 2020 deaths Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni 21st-century American chemists Organic chemists Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni