April 28, 2018 - The sense of touch endows us with a remarkable capacity to perceive and respond to the physical world—it allows us to recognize objects held in our hands, discriminate between different textures and shapes, and it enables sensory-motor feedback and coordination of body movements. The sense of touch also underlies forms of social exchange and is thus an essential component of the human experience. Neurophysiological studies that began nearly 100 years ago have revealed a large number of physiologically distinct mechanosensory neuron types. Ginty will describe his work that addresses the development, properties, and functional organization of the sensory neurons of touch, in health and disease. Ginty represents Class II.