• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

What’s that smell? Scientists find a new way to understand odors

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
August 29, 2018
in Biology
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
IMAGE

Credit: Salk Institute

LA JOLLA–(August 29, 2018) Every smell, from a rose to a smoky fire to a pungent fish, is composed of a mixture of odorant molecules that bind to protein receptors inside your nose. But scientists have struggled to understand exactly what makes each combination of odorant molecules smell the way it does or predict from its structure whether a molecule is pleasant, noxious or has no smell at all.

Now, scientists from the Salk Institute and Arizona State University have discovered a new way to organize odor molecules based on how often they occur together in nature, which is the setting in which our sense of smell evolved. They were then able to map this data to discover regions of odor combinations humans find most pleasurable. The findings, published on August 29 in the journal Science Advances, open new avenues for engineering smells and tastes.

"We can arrange sound by high frequency and low frequency; vision by a spectrum of wavelengths and colors," says Tatyana Sharpee, an associate professor in Salk's Computational Neurobiology Laboratory and lead author of the new work. "But when it comes to olfaction, it's been an unsolved problem whether there is a way to organize odors."

Previously, scientists had tried to classify odorant molecules strictly based on their chemical structures. "But it turns out molecules with structures that look very similar can smell very different," says Sharpee.

Using existing data on the odorant molecules found in different samples of strawberries, tomatoes, blueberries and mouse urine, they used statistical methods to put odorant molecules on a map based on how frequently they occurred together in the four sets of samples.

Those molecules that occurred together more frequently were placed closer to each other.

"It's akin to me telling you that Chicago is x number of miles from New York, Los Angeles and Melbourne. And if you mapped the cities, you'd find out is that the Earth's surface is curved, not flat–otherwise the distance from, say, Melbourne to Los Angeles wouldn't add up. We did the same thing for odor," explains Sharpee.

Using this strategy, the scientists found that odor molecules could similarly be mapped onto a curved surface in three dimensions. But instead of a sphere, like Earth, it turned out to be the shape of a Pringles potato chip–a shape mathematicians call a hyperboloid.

When the team looked at how the molecules clustered on this surface, they found there were pleasant and unpleasant directions, as well as directions that correlated with acidity or how easily odors evaporate from surfaces. These observations now make it easier to construct pleasant odor mixtures to use, for example, in artificial environments (such as a space station).

"By revealing more about how odorant molecules and the brain interact, this work may also have implications for understanding why people with some diseases–like Parkinson's–lose their sense of smell," adds behavioral neuroscientist Brian Smith of Arizona State University, a coauthor of the paper.

###

In addition to Sharpee and Smith, Yuansheng Zhou, of the Salk Institute, was also an author of the new paper.

The work and the researchers involved were supported by grants from the Aileen Andrew Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Two collaborative grants to Sharpee and Smith originated as part of the new IDEAS Lab project at the National Science Foundation called "Cracking the Olfactory Code."

About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:

Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin. Learn more at: salk.edu.

Media Contact

Salk Communications
[email protected]
858-453-4100
@salkinstitute

Home

Original Source

https://www.salk.edu/news-release/whats-that-smell-scientists-find-a-new-way-to-understand-odors/

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

Schematic view of Wnt signaling in heart tissue.

Future medical applications in drug design

August 9, 2022
Image 1

Robot helps reveal how ants pass on knowledge

August 9, 2022

The walk of Japanese children develops differently from children in other countries

August 9, 2022

Aldosterone linked to increased risk of chronic kidney disease progression and end-stage kidney disease

August 9, 2022
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Picture of the horse specimen.

    Ancient DNA clarifies the early history of American colonial horses

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • The pair of Orcas deterring Great White Sharks – by ripping open their torsos for livers

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • Ill-fated ‘Into the Wild’ adventurer was victim of unfortunate timing, Oregon State study suggests

    39 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • Skin: An additional tool for the versatile elephant trunk

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

UrbanizationVaccineUrogenital SystemWeaponryWeather/StormsViolence/CriminalsVirusVirologyVaccinesZoology/Veterinary ScienceVehiclesUniversity of Washington

Recent Posts

  • Harrington Discovery Institute scholar successfully moves new drug for rare, genetic eye disease into clinical trial
  • Most older adults ready to roll up sleeves this fall for updated COVID-19 boosters
  • Sexual dysfunction high among women with lung cancer
  • Vancouver researchers suggest air pollution be included as risk factor for patients with lung cancer and have never smoked
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In