Gustatory and olfactory senses receive chemical substances. The recent development of biochemical or genetic sciences has clarified these mechanisms. As a result, the sensor technology to mimic the mechanisms has appeared and succeeded recently. A taste sensor can discriminate the taste and also quantify it by providing the “scale of taste”; it has started to be utilized in food and medical industries all over the world. As for electronic noses, several types of devices have been developed so far. They are used in many fields such as foods, perfume, medicine, robotics, and safety and security field to protect us from terrorism and disaster. These devices are fabricated based on nanotechnology, materials science, bioengineering, biomedical engineering, electronic engineering, sensor technology, information science, chemistry and biology, that is, they are nothing but the products of interdisciplinary research.
This book is the first to comprehensively treat sensors for gustatory and olfactory senses. It will be highly useful to students and researchers in a wide variety of scientific fields and also to those in the fields of foods, perfumes, medicines and robotics as the sensor applications.
About the Editor:
Kiyoshi Toko is a Distinguished Professor of Kyushu University. He succeeded in developing the first-ever taste sensor using lipid membranes, i.e., the electronic tongue. At present, this taste sensor is sold commercially in Japan and all over the world. He is now one of the leading scientists in the field of bioelectronics, which deals with devices and phenomena related to both electronics and biology. He has published more than 500 papers in well-respected journals on the subject of taste sensor and electronic noses. He has directed and continues several government projects in food, nanotechnology, and integrated sensing technology using biosensors and the taste/odor sensors. He is a member of professional associations of applied physics, taste and smell, membrane, food science and technology, and electrical engineering, and is an editor of Sensors and Materials, an international journal.
