Kurzprofil Dr. Melanie Köhler
Hier geht es zum Interview mit Dr. Melanie Köhler (Stand 2021)
My recently founded research group (July 2022) aims to decipher the molecular basis underlying oral texture perception. We study and characterize the oral receptor molecules involved in mouthfeel (e.g. mechanoreceptors), their interplay with taste receptors/ chemesthesis and certain food constituents, known to enhance mouthfeel of food products. High-throughput atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used as a central technique in combination with new biophysical methodologies, other advanced microscopy techniques, mechano- and cell biology, food chemistry and biology, bioinformatics, and human sensory analysis to discover how texture makes flavor.
The combined use of these techniques will offer innovative routes to study, evaluate and standardize mouthfeel in flavor perception, and to design related novel food structures to solve problems in health, dietary choice, and nutrition.
- Understanding the molecular basis of mouthfeel in foods’ flavor perception
- Structure-function analyses of the key players involved in mouthfeel
- Implementing experimental biophysical approaches in food systems biology
- Discovery of mechanoreceptors involved in food-related human processes beyond oral texture perception
| Since 06/2022 |
Leibniz-Institute of Food Systems Biology at the TU Munich Junior group leader “Mechanoreceptors” |
| 10/2020 – 06/2022 |
UCLouvain, Louvain Institute of Biomolecular Science and Technology, nbio lab, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) Senior Postdoc |
| 10/2016 – 09/2020 |
UCLouvain, Louvain Institute of Biomolecular Science and Technology, nbio lab, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) Junior Postdoc |
| Dr. techn./ PhD (09/2016) | Johannes Kepler University, Linz (Austria) |
| 10/2012 – 09/2016 |
Johannes Kepler University, Institute of Biophysics, Linz (Austria) PhD student in Biophysics |
| Dipl.-Ing./ MSc. (09/2012) | University of Applied Science, Linz (Austria) |
| 09/2010 – 09/2012 |
University of Applied Science, Linz (Austria) Master studies in Biomedical Engineering |
| 2022 (LSB) | Recipient of a 5-year Junior Research Group grant funded by the Leibniz association and Leibniz LSB within the scope of the Leibniz competition 2022, Germany, “Mouthfeel – How texture makes flavor” |
| 2020 (UCLouvain) | 3-year postdoctoral fellowship funded by Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) Belgium, “Probing quantitative parameters underlying the initial Reovirus binding steps to cell surfaces using combined atomic force microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy” |
| 2017 (UCLouvain) | Erwin Schrödinger Abroad Fellowship funded by Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Austria, “Probing the reovirus infection” |
| Since 2019 | Co-Supervision of 1 PhD student, UCLouvain, Belgium |
| 2015 – 2016 | AFM training and demo sessions for Keysight Technologies, Austria |
| 2013 – 2016 | Tutor/ Lab demonstrating/ Teaching assistant for the course “Characterization of bio-nano structures” for molecular bioscience/ biophysics students; JKU Linz, Austria |
| 2013 – 2017 | Lecturer at Linz Winter School “”, Austria |
| Since 2012 | Supervision of 6 Bachelor students, 5 Interns and 7 Master students, JKU Linz, FH Linz & UCLouvain |