
Prof.
Masha
Niv
Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition,The Robert H Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Rehovot, The Hebrew University
We study molecular recognition of taste and smell compounds using atomistic computational methods, as well as psycophysics techniques and cell-based methods. In particular, we study molecular recognition and signal transduction of bitter and sweet taste receptors and other GPCRs. We established the BitterDB database of bitter compounds http://bitterdb.agri.huji.ac.il and have demonstrated effects of bitter taste on emotions (Dubovski et al, 2017 authors.elsevier.com/a/1U~fR3O579O9gL). Ongoing work includes genetic differences involved in taste perception, structure-taste activity and discovery of novel taste receptor ligands and taste modifiers.