Descrizione del progetto
Soluzione high-tech per la salute e la cura dell’olfatto
La perdita temporanea o permanente dell’olfatto può mettere a dura prova la salute di una persona e persino provocare disturbi di salute mentale. In effetti, la disfunzione olfattiva precoce è un biomarcatore per rilevare malattie quali l’Alzheimer e il Parkinson. Gli effetti negativi delle disfunzioni dell’olfatto sono stati sperimentati anche da una popolazione globale più ampia a causa dell’impatto della pandemia di COVID-19. In tale contesto, il progetto SmellHealth, finanziato dal CER, progetterà nuove applicazioni sanitarie digitali per l’olfatto, finalizzate ad allenare l’olfatto attraverso una tecnologia di erogazione degli odori altamente accurata, efficiente, adattabile e conveniente. Esso consentirà la raccolta di dati affidabili, la creazione di set di dati digitali basati sulle prestazioni dell’olfatto ed estenderà i vantaggi delle cartelle cliniche elettroniche personalizzate per il monitoraggio, la diagnosi e la prevenzione.
Obiettivo
The aim of this ERC PoC is to enable the design of new digital smell healthcare applications (e.g. smell training) through the development of a highly accurate, efficient, adaptive, and affordable smell-delivery technology (hardware and software components), and demonstrate its use to healthcare professionals.
The human sense of smell is powerful, it makes an important and yet often undervalued contribution to our life and wellbeing with a unique link to emotions and memories. Smell dysfunctions or loss (even temporary) give rise to a range of problems, which can affect personal safety, enjoyment of food, personal hygiene, and can cause serious mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety and social isolation. In Europe and the USA, around 20% of the general adult population has some form of smell dysfunction and this number rises to 75% for people aged between 70–80 years. In 2050, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 65 years and over. The negative effects of smell dysfunctions have recently been experienced by a larger global population due to the impact of COVID-19. Regardless of a temporary or chronic smell dysfunction, there is an unmet need for digital smell care applications that empower individuals and healthcare professionals to properly care and treat negative effects.
Smell training can make a difference to people’s health, personal and emotional wellbeing in older age. Additionally, reliably recording a person’s smell capabilities can detect dysfunctions that can be an early sign of degenerative conditions (Dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease), even a decade or more before the onset of cognitive or motor symptoms. SmellHealth will not only provide technological innovation for smell delivery and control, but also enable the collection of reliable data, the creation of digital datasets based on smell performance and thus extend the benefits of personalised electronic healthcare records for monitoring, diagnosis, and prevention.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantIstituzione ospitante
CB3 0QH Cambridge
Regno Unito
L’organizzazione si è definita una PMI (piccola e media impresa) al momento della firma dell’accordo di sovvenzione.