Doctor of Philosophy, Biological Sciences
Brock University
Supervisor: Gary J. Pickering, PhD
Astringency and Other Oral Sensations: Biological Sources of Individual Variation and Association with Food and Beverage Behaviour
Read the dissertation ↗About Martha
The minds behind Senseworks.
Bajec Senseworks brings sensory, consumer, and behavioural science to product and research decisions. Founder Martha Bajec leads the scientific work; Quentin Blasingame leads technology and AI.
The question underneath the work
Why can the same product become a different experience?
That question connects Martha’s training in neuroscience, physiology, and sensory science with the work we do in product research. It matters whether we are explaining a sensory result, choosing a formulation, investigating product use, or deciding what a claim can say.
Martha’s early research examined how nerve cells communicate: recording electrical activity at neuromuscular junctions and studying the proteins and molecular signals that regulate synaptic transmission. Doctoral work then moved from cellular mechanisms to human perception, examining biological sources of individual variation in oral sensation and their relationships with food and beverage behaviour.
Martha’s industry experience includes The Coca-Cola Company, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Philip Morris International, Altria, HEXO, and ACCE International. The categories changed: food, beverages, nutrition, personal care, cannabis, and nicotine. But the need to connect product science with human response remained.
Why Bajec Senseworks
Complex product decisions rarely belong to one discipline.
A formulation question can become a perception question. A preference result can become a behaviour question. A behaviour result can become a regulatory or claims question.
Bajec Senseworks follows the question across those boundaries without inflating what the evidence can say.
Founder-led
Senior science, directly involved.
Martha stays directly involved in every engagement: clarifying the question, designing the research, and interpreting the results.
Research partners, participant access, facilities, and specialist capabilities are brought in when the question requires them. The scientific responsibility stays close to the work.
Education
From clinical laboratory science to synapses to sensory experience.
Technical and research training across laboratory medicine, neuroscience, physiology, the scientific measurement of perception (psychophysics), and sensory science.
Master of Science, Physiology
Program in Neuroscience · University of Toronto
Supervisor: Harold L. Atwood, PhD, DSc, FRSC
Consequences of Altered Frequenin Expression at Arthropod Neuromuscular Junctions
Bachelor of Science (Honours), Neuroscience
Brock University
Honours thesis supervisor: A. Joffre Mercier, PhD
The NO-cGMP Pathway in Modulation of Crayfish Neuromuscular Junctions by a Neuropeptide
Diploma, Chemical and Medical Laboratory Technician
Mohawk College
Technical training in clinical and chemical laboratory methods, followed by work in medical laboratory sample processing and hematology.
Public profiles
ORCID scholarly record ↗LinkedIn profile ↗Selected range
Neuroscience · Sensory science · Consumer research · Behaviour · Actual use · Claims · Regulatory evidence · Standards · Teaching
About Quentin
Quentin Blasingame.
Quentin Blasingame, MA · Chief Technologist · AI, technical systems & digital infrastructure
Quentin leads the technology behind Bajec Senseworks, including AI-assisted approaches to data analysis and customer insight, system integration, and the digital infrastructure supporting the work.
His broader experience includes AI agents that carry out multi-step tasks, enterprise architecture, platform integration, marketing automation, and personalization. His work also addresses how these systems are evaluated, governed, and used with appropriate safeguards.
MA, Political Science
University of Toronto
BA, Great Books/Liberal Studies and Political Science
Brock University
A useful next conversation
Work with an independent scientific partner.
From one consequential question to an ongoing evidence program.