DSM-Firmenich has partnered with artificial intelligence company Boltz PBC to accelerate the discovery and development of new flavour and fragrance molecules, as the food and beverage industry increasingly turns to AI for ingredient innovation.
The collaboration will integrate Boltz’s biomolecular foundation models into DSM-Firmenich’s ingredient discovery processes, allowing researchers to model how molecular structures interact with the specialised proteins responsible for taste and smell.
The companies will develop exclusive AI models built around DSM-Firmenich’s expertise in sensory science, with the technology designed to predict molecular structures, generate potential new compounds and assess their interactions with taste and odour receptors. Brandspur Brand News reports that the partnership could give scientists a faster way to explore molecules that may be difficult to identify through conventional laboratory experimentation.
DSM-Firmenich researchers will have access to Boltz’s wider platform, including its Boltz Lab interface, application programming interface and integration with large language model agents.
The AI tools will allow scientists to use natural language to direct complex molecular design and prediction workflows, potentially simplifying the process of testing different molecular possibilities during ingredient development.
Researchers from Boltz will also work directly with DSM-Firmenich scientists as part of the partnership, combining the AI company’s modelling capabilities with DSM-Firmenich’s existing knowledge of taste, odour and sensory science.
Sarah Reisinger, chief science and research officer at DSM-Firmenich, said the company had chosen to work with Boltz because of its advanced AI technology and scientific expertise.
Gabriele Corso, co-founder and chief executive officer of Boltz, said the collaboration would focus on taste and odour receptors, describing them as among the most interesting and understudied proteins in the human body.
AI is gaining a larger role across the food industry, where companies are using the technology in areas such as ingredient discovery, product formulation, product development and sensory analysis.
For flavour developers, molecular modelling could reduce the time required to identify promising compounds while allowing researchers to investigate a broader range of potential combinations before moving to conventional experimental testing.
DSM-Firmenich operates across nutrition, health, beauty, flavours and fragrances, with a presence in almost 60 countries and more than 20,000 employees.
The partnership with Boltz adds another technology driven layer to the company’s research activities as advances in AI create new possibilities for designing and discovering ingredients at the molecular level.
