(428b) Area 15A, Food - Plenary: Bioelectronic Nose: Integration of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology

Human have five senses. Among the five senses, three of them are physical senses, which are vision, hearing, and touch. The other two senses are chemical senses, which are smell and taste. The science and technology for the physical senses have been advanced enormously, and electronic devices have been developed for these senses, e.g. camera, audio recorder, and tablet PC. However, we do not have any device which can capture smell or taste. In order to mimic the function of human nose and tongue a novel concept for sensor devices functionalized with odor and tastant-recognizing biomolecules was suggested. They are the bioelectronic nose and tongue. A bioelectronic nose consists of primary and secondary transducers. The primary transducer is a biological recognition element such as olfactory receptors. The secondary transducer is a highly sensitive nanodevices that convert biological events into measurable signals. In this presentation, the basic concept and principles of bioelectronic nose will be presented. In addition, applications of bioelectronic nose and the current issues will be discussed.