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   Scientists Have Developed An 'Olfactory Fingerprint' Test That May Do More   
   Than Just Identify Individuals    
      
   January 29, 20161    
      
   Scientists Have Developed An 'Olfactory Fingerprint' Test That May Do More   
   Than Just Identify Individuals    
      
   Each of us has, in our nose, about six million smell receptors of around four   
   hundred different types. The distribution of these receptors varies from   
   person to person -- so much so that each person's sense of smell may be   
   unique. In research recently    
   published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS),   
   Weizmann Institute scientists report on a method of precisely characterizing   
   an individual's sense of smell, which they call an "olfactory fingerprint."    
      
      
        
   The implications of this study reach beyond the sense of smell alone, and   
   range from olfactory fingerprint-based early diagnosis of degenerative brain   
   disorders to a non-invasive test for matching donor organs.    
      
   The method is based on how similar or different two odors are from one   
   another. In the first stage of the experiment, volunteers were asked to rate   
   28 different smells according to 54 different descriptive words, for example,   
   "lemony," or "masculine."    
   The experiment, led by Dr. Lavi Secundo, together with Dr. Kobi Snitz and   
   Kineret Weissler, all members of the lab of Prof. Noam Sobel of the Weizmann   
   Institute's Neurobiology Department, developed a complex, multidimensional   
   mathematical formula for    
   determining, based on the subjects' ratings, how similar any two odors are to   
   one another in the human sense of smell. The strength of this formula,   
   according to Secundo, is that it does not require the subjects to agree on the   
   use and applicability of    
   any given verbal descriptor. Thus, the fingerprint is odor dependent but   
   descriptor and language independent.    
      
   The 28 odors make for 378 different pairs, each with a different level of   
   similarity. This provides us with a 378-dimensional fingerprint. Using this   
   highly sensitive tool, the scientists found that each person indeed has an   
   individual unique pattern --    
   an olfactory fingerprint.    
      
   Could this finding extend to millions of people? The researchers say their   
   computations show that 28 odors alone could be used to "fingerprint" some two   
   million people, and just 34 odors would be enough to identify any of the seven   
   billion individuals on    
   the planet.    
      
   The next stage of the research suggested that our olfactory fingerprint may   
   tie in with another system of ours in which we all differ -- the immune   
   system. They found, for example, that an immune antigen called HLA, today used   
   to assess matches for organ    
   donation, is correlated with certain olfactory fingerprints. This part of the   
   study was conducted together with Drs. Ron Loewenthal, and Nancy Agmon-Levin,   
   and Prof. Yehuda Shoenfeld, all of Sheba Medical Center.    
      
   The researchers think that olfactory fingerprinting, in addition to helping   
   identify individuals, could be developed into methods for the early detection   
   of such diseases as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and it could lead to   
   non-invasive methods of    
   initial screening as to whether bone marrow or organs from live donors are a   
   good match.    
      
   Prof. Noam Sobel's research is supported by the Norman and Helen Asher Center   
   for Brain Imaging, which he heads; the Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for   
   Neurosciences, which he heads; the Carl and Micaela Einhorn-Dominic Institute   
   for Brain Research,    
   which he heads; the Nadia Jaglom Laboratory for the Research in the   
   Neurobiology of Olfaction; the Adelis Foundation; the James S. McDonnell   
   Foundation 21st Century Science Scholar in Understanding Human Cognition   
   Program; Mr. & Mrs. H. Thomas Beck,    
   Canada; the Minerva Foundation; the European Research Council; Nathan and Dora   
   Oks, France; Mike and Valeria Rosenbloom through the Mike Rosenbloom   
   Foundation; and the Estate of David Levidow.    
      
   [source]    
      
   Source: scienceofwonder.org    
      
   http://tech01.us/science/scientists-have-developed-an-olfactory-   
   ingerprint-test-that-may-do-more-than-just-identify-individuals-2016-01-29   
      
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