dsm-firmenich is doubling down on artificial intelligence to speed up the discovery and design of the next generation of scent and flavor molecules, announcing a new partnership with AI startup Boltz PBC.

 

The partnership will combine Boltz’s proprietary biomolecular foundation models with dsm-firmenich’s extensive library of taste and odor receptor data. The companies say the collaboration will unlock new possibilities in ingredient discovery while accelerating innovation across fragrance and flavor development.

 

The partnership will produce exclusive AI models trained on decades of dsm-firmenich expertise in sensory science. These models will be used to predict and design molecular structures and analyze how molecules interact with taste and odor receptors—the specialized proteins that detect chemical signals and help the brain interpret smell and taste.

 

“Having launched the world’s first AI-created flavor back in 2020, dsm-firmenich has long been a pioneer in the use of AI. Being at the very forefront of this technology brings significant value to our businesses. That’s why we’ve chosen to partner with Boltz, a pioneering company with unrivalled AI models, built on scientific expertise from MIT, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading universities," said Sarah Reisinger, Chief Science & Research Officer, dsm-firmenich.

 

Under the agreement, dsm-firmenich scientists will have access to the Boltz platform, including its Boltz Lab interface, API and a new integration with LLM agents designed to let researchers orchestrate complex prediction and molecular-design workflows using natural language.

 

Boltz researchers will also be embedded alongside dsm-firmenich teams, bringing AI modeling expertise directly into the company’s ingredient-discovery work.

 

For dsm-firmenich’s perfumers, flavorists and scientists, the technology is expected to make it possible to explore far larger molecular spaces, identify promising candidates and test new concepts more rapidly.

 

The collaboration also targets an area that remains relatively underexplored: the molecular biology of human taste and odor receptors.

 

“Beyond pharmaceuticals, biomolecular interaction and design models have the potential to transform life science products across many industries. We are excited to work with dsm-firmenich to tackle odor and taste receptors, some of the most interesting and understudied proteins in the human body, by combining our best-in-class models with their unmatched expertise in this field," said Gabriele Corso, Co-founder & CEO, Boltz.

 

The partnership marks another step in dsm-firmenich’s push to integrate AI into its research and development pipeline, building on its earlier work in AI-generated flavors.

 

By pairing frontier biomolecular AI with proprietary receptor data and sensory-science expertise, the companies aim to turn AI-driven molecular discovery into a practical tool for creating new flavors and fragrances.