ACS AMA: Hi Reddit! I’m Thomas Hofmann, full professor of food chemistry and molecular sensory science at the Technical University of Munich. Ask me anything about sensomics – research into how flavors make their way through natural and processed food to be smelled and tasted.

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ACS AMA

Hi Reddit! My name is Thomas Hofmann, I am currently Full Professor of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany. I also serve as Editor-in-Chief of the ACS's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. As Chairman and coordinator of an European consortium, I also successfully initiated the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) ”EIT FOOD“ of the European Institute of Technology (EIT) in 2016.

Following my studies in food chemistry at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 1989, I obtained my doctorate (1995) and completed my postdoctoral studies (1998) in the Chemistry Department of TUM. In 1998, I was appointed Acting Director of the German Food Chemistry Research Institute and elected a member of the Leibniz Society. In 2002, I was appointed as professor and Director of the Food Chemistry Institute at the University of Muenster. In 2007, I returned to TUM as full professor of the newly established Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science. Since 2007, I have been a member of the ZIEL Institute for Food and Health, since 2009 Senior Vice President Research and Innovation, and since 2015 I have been Co-Director of the Bavarian Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry Center (BayBioMS).

My primary research interest is to decipher and re-engineer the combinatorial codes of odor/taste-active and taste modulating biomolecules creating the very authentic aroma and taste perception of foods and beverages, to utilize these codes as “molecular blueprints” to monitor process-induced changes in chemosensory profiles from the plant to the fork, and to control breeding and post-harvest processing parameters towards the development of preferred flavor signatures. To achieve this, my research approach coined “Sensomics” combines approaches from advanced natural product chemistry, food engineering, human psychophysics, chemosensory receptor assays, and bioinformatics. Please do not hesitate to ask me any question you may have on how our food’s odors and tastes are coded on a molecular level and look forward to a vivid conversation.

I will be back at 4:00pm CEST (10am EDT, 7am PDT, 2pm UTC) to answer your questions.

">ACS AMA: Hi Reddit! I’m Thomas Hofmann, full professor of food chemistry and molecular sensory science at the Technical University of Munich. Ask me anything about sensomics – research into how flavors make their way through natural and processed food to be smelled and tasted.