In the last few decades, the cases of Parkinson increased exponentially around the globe, especially in western society. The disease starts with the degeneration of brain cells producing dopamine, and after a few years the dopamine depletion leads to impacting motor tremors, among other symptoms.

In this project, we want to measure olfactory dysfunction as a non-invasive biomarker for better detecting cases of Parkinson in the early stages of the disease. In fact, it was shown that 75% of Parkinson’s patient suffer from severe olfactory loss from the early stages of the disease. Detecting this dysfunction in advance will allow the patient to start the treatment years in advance!

We can do so by using a tool called olfactometer, developed by us and in collaboration with NERF, which allows us to deliver smells to the patient in a programmatic way, controlling both the concentration and the timing of the stimulation.

During the stimulation, the patient will wear a cap collecting both EEG and fNIRS data, which is recorded together with the olfactometer stimulation timestamps. The data is then synchronized, processed and analyzed.

The analysis allows us to have a clear understanding of the brain response to olfactory stimulation, both in mechanical and emotional terms. If the brain response is affected and the deficit corresponds to the degeneration of brain cells, an indicator of a neurodegenerative disease is present.

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