Senomyx is an American biotechnology company that develops food additives. The company claims to have "reverse engineered" human taste and aroma receptors. It was founded by Lubert Stryer and Paul Nevsky in 1998. On September 17, 2018, private Swiss company Firmenich completed the acquisition of Senomyx.[1]
History
Biochemist Lubert Stryer founded Senomyx in 1998. In May 2001, Stryer returned to his professorship at Stanford University and resigned from Senomyx, but continued to be the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board.
Around the year 2001, Senomyx patented several flavor enhancers by using "proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems", which have been previously expressed in human cell culture, in HEK293 cells.[2] HEK293 cells are a cell line widely used in biological and medical research, immortalized through a genetic modification removed from the original embryonic kidney cells in the early 1970s.