Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SMELLODI (Smart Electronic Olfaction for Body Odor Diagnostics)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-04-01 bis 2023-03-31
Body odours provide valuable information that can assist in the early-stage detection of neurodegenerative or inflammatory diseases. While medically trained personnel routinely uses body odour perception, its usefulness for systematic diagnostics is hindered because the digitisation of the olfactory sense is still underdeveloped compared to vision and hearing. The EU-funded project SMELLODI will explore the fundamentals of electronic odour systems and exploits the gained knowledge to enable a science-to-technology breakthrough. Ultimately, this will enable the digital characterization of body odours and facilitate their on-demand synthesis with a newly developed Odour Display. The project will combine innovative biomimetic sensor technology, clinical olfaction and psychological perception, chemistry, materials science, and machine learning techniques to develop technologies for remote medical diagnostics. These can be used to assist individuals with olfactory disorders and will provide healthcare professionals with standardized verbal information about patients’ body odours.
Within the first twelve months of SMELLODI, our team has laid out the basis for the characterization of the human body’s volatilome. For that purpose, more than 100 healthy participants and 70 patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment, Parkinson’s syndrome and COVID-19 have donated their body odours (axillary sweat, swabs from the skin at different body sites) in a standardized experimental procedure. The obtained samples will be investigated for their chemical composition in a gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis, and we will determine an electronic “fingerprint” using a commercialized electronic nose (eNose) of our partner SmartNanotubes Technologies GmbH. To ensure the reliable detection of body odour volatiles with the eNose device, the SMELLODI team has developed optimized sensors inspired by the biological principle of the human nose. A first batch of sensors from SmartNanotubes Technologies using the functionalization based on different mucin-derived building blocks has been produced and is currently being tested. To further guide the selection of the functionalization and to optimize the odour-receptor interaction, computational studies of the interaction of odour molecules and the biomimetic receptors are performed.
Using the chemical analysis results and the eNose fingerprints, we will investigate similarities and differences between the samples and combine them with human perception of body odours. To this end, in an international study with more than 2,000 participants from 21 countries, we have obtained vocabulary to describe body odours from different biological states, such as healthy, ill or body odour after doing exercise. The vocabulary will be used to establish a description matrix for body odours, which will serve as labels for the development of the prototype of an Odour Display and a newly functionalized version of the eNose device from SmartNanotubes Technologies.
Finally, SMELLODI aims at creating a proof of principle demonstrator for BOV (percept) synthesis and transmission over the communication network.
In the first reporting period, our team has successfully built the first prototype of the Odour Display and different methods of mixing chemicals within the Odour Display device for a small number of test molecules have been tested. Furthermore, first attempts and trials have been set out to test the self-learning workflow of the device for synthesizing odours fitting to an electronic fingerprint of an eNose device. These efforts will gain more and more importance within the next project months and will combine results from the chemical analysis, perceptual labels and our advanced eNose technology.
Using the chemical analysis results and the eNose fingerprints, we will investigate similarities and differences between the samples and combine them with human perception of body odours. To this end, in an international study with more than 2,000 participants from 21 countries, we have obtained vocabulary to describe body odours from different biological states, such as healthy, ill or body odour after doing exercise. The vocabulary will be used to establish a description matrix for body odours, which will serve as labels for the development of the prototype of an Odour Display and a newly functionalized version of the eNose device from SmartNanotubes Technologies.
Finally, SMELLODI aims at creating a proof of principle demonstrator for BOV (percept) synthesis and transmission over the communication network.
In the first reporting period, our team has successfully built the first prototype of the Odour Display and different methods of mixing chemicals within the Odour Display device for a small number of test molecules have been tested. Furthermore, first attempts and trials have been set out to test the self-learning workflow of the device for synthesizing odours fitting to an electronic fingerprint of an eNose device. These efforts will gain more and more importance within the next project months and will combine results from the chemical analysis, perceptual labels and our advanced eNose technology.
The technology envisioned in SMELLODI possesses high potential for long-term impact on society and economy. Health monitoring and rapid early diagnostics provide an opportunity for a substantial increase in quality of life for EU citizens and beyond and may also help reducing costs in the healthcare sector. Furthermore, the general technology of digitizing olfaction in a smart biomimetic way may help to pave the path for innovations in further applications of digital olfaction, ranging from shaping the “internet of senses”, and fostering smart home technology to safety and security-related applications.
So far, SMELLODI has established the necessary first steps towards enabling such a technology: 1) A first set of SWCNT sensors was functionalized using biomimetic molecular receptors. The responses of these sensors showed an enhanced detection ability towards certain odour molecules and indicate promising performance in general. 2) A first version of a verbal description matrix for body odours was created which is based on the obtained vocabulary from nine of the 21 countries. This matrix will be continuously updated and optimized with more data. Moreover, the first measurements with the eNose device from SMELLODI partner SmartNanotubes Technologies were performed on the collected odour samples. 3) A first prototype of the Odour Display was realized including the necessary software stack. 4) A computational workflow was implemented and used for the characterization of odour molecules and their interaction with sensing materials. This is a first step towards a body odour database which will be further developed in the next two years.
SMELLODI has already achieved major milestones in engaging young researchers and raising interest in the scientific community of the different disciplines as well as in the general public. This was also reflected in the many requests to join SMELLODI as a widening partner. Using this “hop-on” process as an opportunity to extend and complement the existing expertise in the consortium, the team of Dr Robert Hanus from IOCB Prague successfully applied within the HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-ACCESS-07 call for joining the project in the summer of 2023.
So far, SMELLODI has established the necessary first steps towards enabling such a technology: 1) A first set of SWCNT sensors was functionalized using biomimetic molecular receptors. The responses of these sensors showed an enhanced detection ability towards certain odour molecules and indicate promising performance in general. 2) A first version of a verbal description matrix for body odours was created which is based on the obtained vocabulary from nine of the 21 countries. This matrix will be continuously updated and optimized with more data. Moreover, the first measurements with the eNose device from SMELLODI partner SmartNanotubes Technologies were performed on the collected odour samples. 3) A first prototype of the Odour Display was realized including the necessary software stack. 4) A computational workflow was implemented and used for the characterization of odour molecules and their interaction with sensing materials. This is a first step towards a body odour database which will be further developed in the next two years.
SMELLODI has already achieved major milestones in engaging young researchers and raising interest in the scientific community of the different disciplines as well as in the general public. This was also reflected in the many requests to join SMELLODI as a widening partner. Using this “hop-on” process as an opportunity to extend and complement the existing expertise in the consortium, the team of Dr Robert Hanus from IOCB Prague successfully applied within the HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-ACCESS-07 call for joining the project in the summer of 2023.