Dan Felder. Pilot R+D
Dan Felder is the Chief Innovation Officer of Pilot R+D. He couples his culinary skill and creativity with a deep understanding of the science of food to serve as the driving force of inspiration for many of Pilot’s projects. Having served as head of research and development for the Momofuku restaurants, as well as three Michelin star Saison, Dan has…
Leah Sarris. Tulane University
Teaching medical students how to cook and giving them good knowledge about food is a key factor for chef Leah Sarris, who is the Program Director of the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University. She runs the teaching kitchen in a groundbreaking new program that teaches students, doctors and patients the tenets of healthy cooking and the significant…
Dana Small. The John B. Pierce Laboratory
What is the link between brain and obesity? How do weight gain and the associated physiological adaptations influence brain function? How do the neural circuits governing feeding and flavour preference formation predispose certain individuals to gain weight? These are the kind of questions Dana Small intends to answer as Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and Deputy Director of Research…
Leslie Vosshall. Rockefeller University
How does the human brain make sense of the many chemicals we taste and smell in our daily lives? Leslie Vosshall looks for answers in her lab at the Rockefeller University, taking a multi-disciplinary approach spanning genetics, neurobiology and behaviour. Vosshall has been studying the basic rules of the human sense of smell since 2002. Together with her collaborator Andreas…
Chris Young. ChefSteps
Founder and Managing Director of Chefsteps, the first free-to-learn culinary school. Chefsteps.com and its companion app are designed to inspire creativity and encourage experimentation through high-quality interactive content, techniques, tools, and resources. With a background in biochemistry and mathematics, Chris fuses science and technology to develop a culinary experience. He is the co-author of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, a…
Charles Zuker. Columbia University
Dr. Charles Zuker has made significant contributions to three major sensory transduction systems – vision, mechanosensation and taste. His lab has used molecular, genetic and physiological approaches to investigate the biology of sensory transduction mechanisms in photoreceptors, mechanoreceptors and taste receptors. His work on mammalian taste has completely transformed our understanding of taste from the identification and function of taste…