Behind the company

Professor Krishna Persaud, PhD, FRSC, FInstMC is a world-leading expert in chemoreception and artificial olfaction, with an interdisciplinary career that spans biochemistry, sensor systems, and applied engineering.

He holds a PhD in olfactory biochemistry and currently serves as Professor of Chemoreception at the University of Manchester within the Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science. His research focuses on biological olfaction mechanisms, sensor arrays and signal processing, pattern recognition and machine learning, and the development of “electronic nose” technologies and odorant-binding protein sensors.

Professor Persaud co-developed conducting polymer gas sensor arrays that were commercialized by Aromascan plc. He is also the founder and Chief Scientist of Multisensor Systems Ltd, a company specializing in environmental analyzers for volatile organic compounds and ammonia detection. He holds multiple patents in biosensing and sensory substitution technologies, including devices that convert visual images into sound.

He has held leadership roles such as President of the International Society for Olfaction and Chemical Sensing (ISOCS) and Executive Secretary and Treasurer of the European Chemoreception Organisation (ECRO). His awards include the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal, the Water Industry Impact Award, and the Prince of Wales Award for Technological Innovation.

With over 250 publications, Professor Persaud's work has had wide-ranging impact in medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and sensory technologies.

Dr. R. Mark Richardson, MD, PhD is a leading neurosurgeon and neuroscientist whose work bridges clinical care, brain engineering, and translational research. He is Director of Functional Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, Charles A. Pappas Professor of Neurosciences at Harvard Medical School, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT.

Dr. Richardson is the founder of the Brain Modulation Lab, which explores the relationship between brain electrophysiology and behavior in patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy, movement disorders, and psychiatric conditions. His clinical expertise includes awake brain mapping, responsive neurostimulation (RNS), closed-loop brain stimulation, gene and cell therapy, and robotic-assisted stereotactic surgery.

Prior to joining MGH, he developed intraoperative MRI neurosurgery programs and led gene therapy trials at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His lab was the first to record simultaneous cortical and subcortical activity during speech, identify biomarkers for therapeutic neurostimulation in epilepsy and OCD, and map olfactory perception networks, paving the way for olfactory prosthesis development.

Dr. Richardson received his MD-PhD from Virginia Commonwealth University and completed his neurosurgical residency at UCSF.

Dr. Eric H. Holbrook, MD, MS is a respected rhinologist and expert in sinus and olfactory disorders with over 25 years of clinical and academic experience. He is Director of the Division of Rhinology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and he is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital and Tufts Medical Center.

Dr. Holbrook specializes in smell and taste disorders, endoscopic sinus surgery, skull base surgery, and chronic rhinosinusitis. He co-founded both the Smell and Taste Clinic and the Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery Team at Mass Eye and Ear.

His NIH-funded research centers on olfactory neurogenesis and regeneration, including collaborations on olfactory stem cell biology, innate immunity, and psychiatric protein expression in olfactory tissue. He has authored more than 35 peer-reviewed publications and contributed to multiple medical textbooks.

He earned his medical degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University, completed residency at the Medical College of Virginia, and a fellowship in Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Widely recognized for his compassionate care, Dr. Holbrook has been named a “Best Doctor in Otolaryngology” by Boston Magazine and Best Doctors, Inc.

Dr. Masayoshi Kobayashi, MD, PhD is affiliated with Mie University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan and the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research focuses on olfactory nerve regeneration, the effects of dexamethasone on neural healing, and the recovery of smell function following trauma. He has co-authored several peer-reviewed studies in collaboration with Dr. Richard Costanzo, contributing significantly to the understanding of anosmia and sensory recovery.

Dr. Tatsu Kobayakawa, PhD is a leading researcher in chemosensory science, specializing in olfaction, gustation, and multisensory integration. He is a Senior Principal Researcher at the Human Information Interaction Research Division of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan. He holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Tokyo, where he also earned his master’s degree.

Dr. Kobayakawa’s research focuses on how smell and taste interact within the brain, using neuroimaging, psychophysics, and computational models. He co-developed the widely used Odor Stick Identification Test for Japanese (OSIT-J), which has become an important diagnostic tool in conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

He has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, addressing topics such as age-related sensory decline, cross-cultural odor perception, and neural correlates of multisensory processing. His work has applications across neurology, food science, clinical diagnostics, and virtual reality.

He has received numerous honors including the Kirin Research Encouragement Award, the Japan Taste and Smell Society Research Award, and the Academic Prize from the Odor and Fragrance Environment Association of Japan. Dr. Kobayakawa is recognized as a major force in translating sensory neuroscience into real-world impact.