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Biological Function Development Chemistry Lab
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The lab investigates how deliciousness is sensed, starting from taste receptors.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding the mechanisms of taste at the molecular level
The Biological Function Development Chemistry Lab studies the mechanisms for sensing taste, which determines the value of food.
Its goal is to clarify, at the molecular level, how taste signals received in the mouth reach the brain and are perceived as "delicious."
Using cultured cells expressing taste receptors, the lab examines how taste-causing substances are detected.
The lab also studies how preferences and the perception of taste change depending on nutritional state and eating experience.
Key terms
- Taste receptor
- A protein that receives taste-causing substances and passes a signal to the cell
- Taste bud
- A small organ, found on the tongue and elsewhere, made up of a cluster of cells that detect taste
- Cultured cells
- Cells taken from the body and grown in a container. Their properties are easy to study in experiments
NewsLab news
Discovered that cooling compounds such as menthol inhibit bitter taste receptors
Showed that the same substance acts very differently on sweet and umami taste receptors
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to clarify the molecular mechanisms by which taste, which determines the value of food, is received, transmitted, and perceived. It seeks to understand the whole process by which taste signals received in the mouth reach the brain and are perceived as "delicious."
*Illustrative imageHow taste receptors detect taste
Taste-causing substances are detected by cells in the taste buds of the tongue and elsewhere. Using cultured cells expressing taste receptors, the lab measures the intensity of taste responses and investigates, from a structural perspective, how substances are recognized by the receptors.
*Illustrative imagePreferences and taste shaped by food experience
Preferences and the way taste is perceived can change with nutritional state, food experience, and age. The lab has found that mineral deficiency and food experience alter aspects such as gene expression in the brain.
*Illustrative imageProteins that turn sourness into sweetness
Neoculin and miraculin, found in tropical fruits, can make sour tastes taste sweet. The lab investigates the mechanism using cultured cells expressing the human sweet taste receptor.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Biological Function Development Chemistry Lab consist of faculty, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, project specialist staff, and commissioned researchers.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorTakumi MisakaPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Blue tongue” Sensonet / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- How taste receptors detect taste: “Fluo-4 loaded HEK 293 cells” Borys Olifirov / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Preferences and taste shaped by food experience: “Lab mouse mg 3263” Rama / CC BY-SA 2.0 fr (cropped)
- Proteins that turn sourness into sweetness: “Synsepalum dulcificum -miracle fruit - Vijayanrajapuram 01” Vijayanrajapuram / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Food Function Science Endowed Lab): “DNA microarray chip” ErikAbner / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Food Biochemistry Lab): “Bodipy-wiki-Rkott-2023” Rkott / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Enzymology Lab): “Lysozyme crystals” Ilyassova Bayan / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nutrition and Life Sciences Lab): “Human iPS cells colonies” Christine Hale, Amy Yeung, David Goulding, Derek Pickard, Kaur Alasoo, Fiona Powrie, Gordon Dougan ほか
（PLOS ONE） / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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