Descripción del proyecto
Una lengua virtual para la selección del sabor de los alimentos
El proyecto VIRTUOUS, financiado con fondos europeos, está dedicado al desarrollo de una lengua virtual hecha por un marco computacional integrado que puede examinar los alimentos en busca de componentes naturales mediante la unión de receptores de sabor. Este consorcio internacional incluye nueve participantes de los ámbitos académico e industrial de cuatro países europeos. Mediante el empleo de diversos datos computacionales y experimentales, los socios planean crear un algoritmo para la predicción del perfil organoléptico de los alimentos basándose en su composición química. La aplicación potencial de esta plataforma como predictor del sabor se encuentra en la industria alimentaria, la agricultura de precisión moderna y como vínculo con la neurociencia para la determinación del sabor.
Objetivo
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.
Ámbito científico
- 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
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Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-RISE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE)Coordinador
10129 Torino
Italia