Periodic Reporting for period 3 - NanoSmell (NanoSmells: Artificial remote-controlled odorants)
Período documentado: 2018-03-01 hasta 2019-08-31
Despite significant efforts, we have failed to achieve our primary aim
FET Open is touted as designated for "high-risk high-gain". If all "high-risk high-gain" projects always succeed, then they were not really high-risk. This project really was high-risk, and despite our efforts, this risk materialized. That said, our efforts were not without fruits. Some of these outcomes may be game-changing, even if not in the originally intended manner. Finally, we should note that despite the (premature) end of this funding mechanism, we are not lifting our hands from this effort, and are continuing to try and generate NanoSmells.
Of the achievements made in this project, we would like to highlight:
1. Bachelet lab: A novel method for aptamer selection, that may allow progress in areas such as drug development
2. Hansson lab: A method for expression of Drosophila olfactory receptors in mammalian cells
3. Sobel lab: A valid metric for odor perception in humans that may provide a computational backbone for digitising smell
4. Carleton lab: A neural metric for odorant similarity in mice that may significantly advance our understanding of how the brain codes smelll
5. Del Rio lab: Aptamers (NanoSmells) that promote wound-healing.
Each of these alone are significant scientific achievements. Thus, although NanoSmell may have failed to meet its technological goals, it has made significant scientific contributions. Moreover, if the Del Rio lab achievement holds, and leads to an actual product to treat skin wounds, this will reflect accomplishment of a stated goal of NanoSmell, an accomplishment that, in our view, alone justifies the entire effort.