menu

The Centre - Presentation

Le CSGA

The Centre for Taste and Feeding Behaviour (CSGA) has been created the first of January 2010, and renewed in 2017. It belongs to Institut Agro Dijon, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique and the University of Burgundy.

The CSGA is composed of 10 research groups made up with 133 members with a permanent position (researchers, professors and assistant/professors, MD, engineers and technicians), and around 70 non tenured agents (PhD, post-doc, engineers and technicians).

The general objective is to get a better understanding of the physicochemical, molecular, cellular, behavioural and psychological mechanisms underlying sensory perception of food, eating behaviour and health consequences. The studies range from the release of aromatic substances and sapid molecules from the food matrix to the psychology and behaviour of consumer, through the biological events of sensory perceptions. Changes in sensory perception in physiological (development, experience) or pathological conditions (nutrient excess, aging) are studied.

The unit possesses worldwide acknowledged and complementary competences in key-thematic fields:
- chemical analysis of complexity (pheromones, odorants, sapid and trigeminal molecules,…),
- release of compounds from food matrices (role of chewing and saliva composition),
- analysis of the sensory, cognitive and behavioural phenomena associated to the treatment of sensory informations,
- analysis of the mechanisms involved in chemical communication and feeding/eating behaviours,
- role of the internal and external environment (metabolism, sensory exposure, development, culture et and society, metabolic state, pathologies).

CSGA participates to teaching dues through the University of Burgundy and Institut Agro Dijon. CSGA has developed strong relationships with academic partners in health: INSERM laboratories, Dijon University Hospital, LabEx LipSTIC (ANR-11-LABX-0021-01). CSGA has built several partnerships with agrofood and pharmaceutical industries. The Centre is member of the Institut Carnot QUALIMENT « Qualité Nutritionnelle et Sensorielle des Aliments ». It participates to the « Territories, Environment, Food » axis of the I-SITE Bourgogne Franche-Comté project (contract ANR-15-IDEX-03). CSGA is part of the competitive cluster Vitagora.

Most of the projects are led in collaboration with public and private partners both at the national and international level.

Head of the Centre

Loïc Briand

The research of Dr. Loïc Briand deals with molecular mechanisms underlying chemosensation of tasting and odorant molecules. He is interested in olfactory receptors and taste receptors (umami, sweet and bitter), as well as sweet-tasting protein and taste modifying proteins, such as miraculin and gurmarin. He is also investigating the impact of odorant-binding proteins on olfactory perception and the use of these proteins for the development of biosensors. More recently, his research has focused on the role of taste receptors located in other organs throughout the body.

Dr. Loïc Briand received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Nantes University in France. After a post-doc at Glasgow University in Great-Britain, he became interested in olfaction and joined the INRAE center of Jouy-en-Josas (suburb of Paris) as Research Associate in 1999. In 2007, Loïc Briand joined the Center for Taste, Smell and Feeding Behaviour in Dijon (France), started his own research group and, was appointed Research Director. Loïc Briand is a member of the European Chemoreception Research Organization (ECRO) board. He is author/co-author of more than 70 peer-reviewed articles, more than 10 reviews in the chemosensory area, and over 12 chapters.

Quick access