Aashish Manglik investigates how cells sense and respond to their external environment. His research team studies the largest family of receptors in the genome that interpret thousands of cellular communication signals and allows humans to see, smell, and taste. With deep insight into how these receptors work, Manglik’s team develops ways to precisely control cell signaling to tackle diseases ranging from cancer to depression. Manglik received his bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis where he trained as a chemist and earned a dual MD and PhD at Stanford University in 2016. Manglik established his independent laboratory as the inaugural Stanford Distinguished Fellow in 2016 and joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco in 2017 as an assistant professor. Manglik has received the Early Independence Award, the Pew Biomedical Scholars Award, the Simons-Klingenstein Fellowship, and the Kinship Foundation, Searle Scholars Award.