Mark Hoon earned his PhD. at the University of Leeds in the lab of John Findlay where he studied the molecular components in invertebrate vision. After completing a NATO postdoc in Freiburg Germany he joined Nicholas Ryba's lab (NIDCR) investigating taste. Over a period of 15 years and in collaboration with Charles Zuker they discovered the receptors and cells required for sweet, bitter, and sour taste. At the end of 2006, Dr. Hoon started his own lab working on deciphering signaling pathways involved in mammalian somatosensation. The lab has been dissecting the cellular basis for thermosensation and pain signaling. Recently by studying neuropeptides they uncovered the neural pathway for itch. Dr. Hoon's group is continuing to study peripheral mechanism of somatosensation using molecular genetic techniques.