Within the duration of SMELLODI, our team has laid out the basis for the characterization of the human body’s volatilome (BOV). 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 odors (axillary sweat, swabs from the skin at different body sites) in a standardized experimental procedure. The obtained samples were investigated for their chemical composition in a gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis, and simultaneously an electronic “fingerprint” was determined using a commercialized electronic nose (eNose) of our partner SmartNanotubes Technologies GmbH. To ensure the reliable detection of body odor volatiles with the eNose device, the SMELLODI team has developed optimized sensors inspired by the biological principle of the human nose. A new type of sensors from SmartNanotubes Technologies using the functionalization based on different mucin-derived building blocks has been produced and was tested. To further guide the selection of the functionalization and to optimize the odor-receptor interaction in the future, computational studies of the interaction of odor molecules and the biomimetic receptors were performed.
Using the chemical analysis results and the eNose fingerprints, we investigated similarities and differences between the samples and combine them with human perception of body odors. To this end, in an international study with more than 2,000 participants from 21 countries, we have obtained vocabulary to describe body odors from different biological states, such as healthy, ill or body odor after doing exercise. The vocabulary was used to establish a description matrix for body odors, which will served as labels for the development of the prototype of an Odor Display and a newly functionalized version of the eNose device from SmartNanotubes Technologies.
In the end, SMELLODI created a proof of principle demonstrator for BOV (percept) synthesis and transmission over the communication network using the developed Odor Display. While the device is still limited to a small number of molecular components, it demonstrated the feasibility of the SMELLODI technology.
