Targeting the sweet tooth to reduce population-wide sugar intake

Excess intake of dietary sugars are a major contributor to obesity, and type 2 diabetes. 82% of consumers state that taste is the major determinant of what they buy and eat – as such, deciphering the mechanisms of sweet taste, and understanding how we can target the ‘sweet tooth’ is key in curbing population-wide sugar intake. This project aims to understand how inhibiting the pathways responsible for digesting sugar impacts how we taste and perceive sweet foods, and whether we can target this pathway to curb sugar intake at the population level. The student will lead a multidisciplinary project including human pharmacology and nutritional intervention studies in humans where they will acquire skills in sensory sciences, and functional neuroimaging to determine whether inhibition of SI impacts how we sense and taste sweet foods and whether it impacts reward signalling in the brain. Alongside this, the student will gain expertise in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCRs) biology, signalling assays and advanced imaging as they seek to understand how these genetic variants impact taste-receptor signalling. Finally, the student will gain experience with high-throughput screening of putative therapeutic compounds testing their efficacy at inhibiting key enzymes and taste signalling pathways involved in sugar metabolism and taste.