Towards the Personalization of the Enjoyment of Flavours
The new genetic technologies should enable us to identify individual characteristics with regard to all the senses that have to do with “taste”. The study of the variability in the perception of these senses, together with the identification of new genetic variants that may be related to them, will make it possible to create individual genetic profiles, based on the analysis of DNA samples from each of us. In this way we might achieve a personalization of food adapted to our personal characteristics. Xavier Estivill was born in Barcelona in 1955. He studied Medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, specializing in Haematology, in 1985. He did his doctorate in Medicine (Autonomous University of Barcelona) and Genetics (University of London) on the genetic causes of cystic fibrosis. He was director of the Cancer Research Institute’s Centre for Medical Genetics and of the Hospital Clínic’s Genetic Service. Since 2001 he has been the Coordinator of the Centre of Genomic Regulation (Barcelona)’s Genes and Disease Programme, and Associate Professor at Pompeu Fabra University. His research work is focused on the study of the variability of the genome in relation to human disease. Raquel Rabionet was born in Barcelona in 1974. She took a degree in Biology at the University of Barcelona, and did her doctorate in Genetics in 2002, after studying the genetic causes of hereditary deafness for five years. She moved to the United States of America, where, at Duke University (Durham, NC) she worked on discovering genetic factors involved in autism. Since 2005 she has been part of the research team of the group researching into the genetic causes of disease in the Centre of Genomic Regulation (Barcelona)’s Genes and Disease Programme. Mònica Gratacòs was born in Barcelona in 1964. She took her degree in Medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and specialized in Clinical Biochemistry. She did her doctorate on the genetic causes of anxiety disorders and in 2001 she joined, as a collaborating researcher, the group researching into the genetic causes of disease in the Centre of Genomic Regulation (Barcelona)’s Genes and Disease Programme. She currently works as a researcher at this same centre and is focusing on the study of genetic susceptibility to suffering psychiatric illnesses such as emotional disorders, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance abuse and eating disorders.
Xavier Estivill - Raquel Rabionet - Mònica Gratacòs
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