Grant E. DuBois, Ph.D., Consultant, Sweetness Technologies, LLC
Grant DuBois is an Organic Chemist, with BS in Chemistry and Mathematics from Capital University (Columbus, Ohio), Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) and with Postdoctoral Research in Organic Chemistry at Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA).
Grant began his career in research in 1973 working on new sweetener discovery for Dynapol Company (Palo Alto, CA), where his work led to a stevia sweetener analogue as candidate for development with properties superior to aspartame. In 1981, he joined Syva Company (Palo Alto, CA) where his work was focused on fluorescent probes for use in immunoassays and led to the most sensitive time-gated probe known for assay of therapeutic drugs, drugs of abuse and sexually transmitted disease analytes.
In 1984, he joined aspartame manufacturer Searle Pharmaceutical Company (Skokie, IL), where he was responsible for new sweetener research. In 1985, Monsanto acquired Searle and the sweetener business was restructured into The NutraSweet Company. The NutraSweet sweetener research program led to the discovery and development of neotame, commercialized following FDA approval in 2002. NutraSweet research also led to a salt substitute, enabling 50% sodium reduction in many food products, as well as sugar substitutes, enabling formulation of sweet sugar-free frozen desserts, baked goods and confections.
In 1992, Grant joined The Coca-Cola Company (Atlanta, GA) where he had general responsibility for ingredient science. Research on sweetness technologies led to 1) the first 0-calorie frozen beverages, 2) the first sweetener receptor positive allosteric modulators (PAMs, also known as enhancers) through a collaboration with Senomyx (FEMA GRAS flavors SucralGEMTM and SucroGEMTM) and 3) US regulatory clearance as GRAS of the stevia sweetener rebaudioside A.
In 2012, Grant established Sweetness Technologies, LLC and began work as a Scientific Advisor for Thailand based Almendra, a manufacturer of ultra-high purity rebaudioside A (StevioseTM100), other stevia sweetener products and also a multiple glucosylated steviol glycoside (GSG) products available under the Steviarome brand. And in 2013, Grant also started with US-based CraveCrush LLC as Vice President Research where he developed a dietary supplement to be used as an aid in treatment of obesity and type II diabetes which was commercialized in 2017 under the Sweet Defeat brand. Grant’s research has led to some 80 publications and 85 patents and patent applications. He has given about 60 lectures at scientific symposia and universities.
Contact:
215 Quincy Lane, Roswell, GA 30076, USA
PH: 470-345-4142; Email: grant.dubois@gmail.com
Global Food Forums Presentations by Speaker
- 2020 Sweetener Systems Conference (Guest Appearance):
Breakthrough Technology Dramatically Improves Sweetener Tastes
Based on the physiological mechanisms of taste perception, a recent patent application describes a clean-label formulation technology that dramatically improves the tastes of sweeteners, non-caloric and caloric.
- 2018 Sweetener Systems Conference:
Replication of Sugar Taste Enabled by Taste Modulators & Enhancers
Pressure on food and beverage companies to reduce sugar-derived calories continues to intensify due to the obesity and diabetes epidemics and, more recently, taxation and labeling requirements. Synthetic and natural non-caloric sweetener substitution for sugars is increasingly employed to enable the desired caloric reduction. However, such sweeteners consistently fall short of sugar taste quality. There are four reasons for this: off-tastes, such as bitter, metallic, licorice-like, etc.; temporal issues, i.e., delayed sweetness onset or sweetness linger; adaptation/ desensitization effects; and body or mouthfeel shortcomings. Approaches for the mitigation of these effects will be discussed. Use of enhancers of sugar sweetness is a second approach to reduce calories. The current state of use of positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) as well as other enhancers will be discussed.
