Taste properties are vital to human survival, nutrition, health, and well-being. Unpleasant taste properties, particularly astringency and bitterness, present significant challenges across various fields of research. Beyond their relevance in food science, nutrition, and crop improvement, understanding these taste properties is crucial for addressing human taste disorders and advancing drug discovery.
The BeTASTy project aims to transcend traditional food-oriented research by tackling the complex issues of astringency and bitterness through a multidisciplinary approach. This innovative project will provide a comprehensive understanding of the physical and chemical events that trigger the physiological and neural perception of astringency. By focusing on key oral components such as salivary proteins, epithelial cells, and mechanoreceptors, BeTASTy seeks to unravel the intricate processes underlying these sensations.
One of the project's key innovations is the development of an all-in-one model to explore how certain compounds can simultaneously evoke astringency and bitterness. Furthermore, BeTASTy will investigate individual sensory differences using pioneering techniques involving human organoids and electroencephalography.
The ultimate goal of BeTASTy is to create novel cell-free biosensors based on identified mechano- and bitter taste receptors, offering a significant improvement over existing and limited cell-based methods. This groundbreaking approach will bring together expertise from food chemistry, biochemistry, neuroscience, sensory analysis, and biotechnology, pushing the boundaries of current scientific knowledge on taste sensations.
Through its multidisciplinary methodology, BeTASTy envisions to achieve significant scientific breakthroughs in understanding the biochemical, neural, and perceptual aspects of taste, ultimately enabling the tailored modulation of astringency and bitterness.
