Richard Axel (born July 2, 1946, New York City) is an American neuroscientist whose work on the olfactory system won him and Linda B. Buck, a former post-doctoral scientist in his research group, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004.

In their landmark paper published in 1991, Buck and Axel cloned olfactory receptors, showing that they belong to the family of G protein coupled receptors. By analyzing rat DNA, they estimated that there were approximately one thousand different genes for olfactory receptors in the mammalian genome. This research opened the door to the genetic and molecular analysis of the mechanisms of olfaction. In their later work, Buck and Axel have shown that each olfactory receptor neuron remarkably only expresses one kind of olfactory receptor protein and that the input from all neurons expressing the same receptor is collected by a single dedicated glomerulus of the olfactory bulb.

Born in New York City, New York, Axel graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1963, received his A.B. in 1967 from Columbia University, and his M.D. in 1971 from Johns Hopkins University. He returned to Columbia later that year and became a full professor in 1978.

Joseph Poole, better known as Wednesday 13 (born August 12, 1976), is a rock musician from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is most famous for his role as the frontman of the Murderdolls. He has also played in several other bands, including Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, Wednesday 13, Bourbon Crow and most recently Gunfire 76.

Poole currently resides in Los Angeles. Poole is a fan of campy horror movie parodies and mildly macabre TV shows such as The Munsters and The Addams Family (the latter being the source of his "Wednesday" moniker), which influence his tongue-in-cheek lyrics. He also created a set of cartoon characters with his ex-wife called the Thirteen Dead Kids, which was released as a clothing line. A book was supposed to be released, though this was halted due to Poole's touring schedule and the lack of publisher.

Poole's musical career began in 1992 when he played guitar in the band Mizery which later became Psycho Opera which featured guitarist Abby Normal, drummer Jeff Washam, bassist Michael Patrick and lead vocalist Todd Cage. Poole left the band to form Maniac Spider Trash as lead vocalist alongside Abby Normal (again on guitar) and Michael Patrick (also filling his earlier role as bassist), they were joined by Sicko Zero on drums. Poole fronted the band from 1992 through 1996. The band released one EP entitled Dumpster Mummies on Dead Hell Records in 1994. This was followed by an album titled Murder Happy Fairytales in 1995 which remains unreleased. The band then disbanded. Dumpster Mummies EP will be re-issued October 5, 2010.