Description du projet
Une langue virtuelle pour dépister le goût des aliments
Le projet VIRTUOUS, financé par l’UE, est dédié au développement d’une langue virtuelle construite par un cadre informatique intégré qui peut dépister les aliments selon leurs composants naturels en liant les récepteurs du goût. Ce consortium international inclut neuf participants universitaires et industriels de quatre pays européens. En utilisant une variété de données informatiques et expérimentales, les partenaires prévoient de créer un algorithme pour prédire le profil organoleptique de l’aliment en fonction de sa composition chimique. Cette plate-forme de prédiction du goût pourrait être appliquée aux secteurs de l’alimentation et de l’agriculture de précision moderne ainsi qu’aux neurosciences comme lien pour déterminer le goût.
Objectif
VIRTUOUS is a virtual tongue made by an integrated computational framework able to screen food for natural ligands targeting taste receptors. The proposed intelligent algorithm, by integrating drug discovery techniques, machine learning classifiers, algorithms for big data, cloud computing, and experimental data will predict the organoleptic profile of a specific food based on its chemical composition. The outcomes of this research will shed light on the mechanisms driving the information transfer from the chemistry level, where food molecular constituents bind taste receptors, toward a cascade of molecular, supramolecular and cellular events emerging as an elaborated sensation which strongly contribute to the food organoleptic profile.
The joint exchange programme involves 9 participants from 4 countries: Italy, Greece, Spain, Switzerland. Participants are both from academic (4 beneficiaries) and non-academic (5 beneficiaries) sectors. The balance between academy and industry and the interdisciplinary nature of the Consortium will grant a unique stimulating environment for researchers involved in the projects.
Relevance of the program is identified at European and worldwide level, both for academia and industry. The idea of conceiving a taste predictor to be applied on European food products will boost and widen European food market at global level. The VIRTUOUS tongue may be also thought has an “food computer aided design tool” for EU food technology. For example, based on taste prediction the VIRTUOUS platform may be used in the future to predict the results of a specific grape graft. The Virtuous tongue may be also combined with other technologies to enhance precision agriculture. The VIRTUOUS research also links taste receptors’ activation to the activity of nuclear receptors following the paradigm of the Mediterranean Diet: “good and healthy”. Finally, the project is related to neuroscience, by considering molecular mechanisms of brain elaboration in taste.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiology
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesfood technology
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencebig data
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencescomputational sciencemultiphysics
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learning
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-RISE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE)Coordinateur
10129 Torino
Italie