References

Olfactory process

  1. How do we smell – a short, animated video from TEDed that details the olfactory pathway.
  2. Olfactory System: Anatomy and Physiology, Pathways, Animation – another short animation to describe the olfactory pathway.
  3. Taste & Smell: Crash Course A&P #16 – Hank Green’s lively video description of the olfactory pathway.
  4. Smell Disorders – an article documenting smell disorders, like anosmia, their origins, diagnoses, and treatments.
  5. Nervous pathways of smell – Encyclopedia Britannica’s representation of the olfactory system.

Compound guide

  1. Aroma Compounds and Their Odors – this article served as the main reference for the table created on the aroma page.
  2. Is It Possible to Predict the Odor of a Molecule on the Basis of its Structure? – research article exploring how molecular structure may be used to predict the odor of a compound. It touches on the anomalies associated with structure and odor, and addresses the limitation of this approach. The images in the limitations section of the aroma page are taken from this article.
  3. Data based predictive models for odor perception. – a research article detailing a machine learning approach to prediction of what a particular compound will smell like trained on the perceptions of test subjects.
  4. Why some people become super smellers. – a discussion into whether increased ability to smell is inherent or can be trained in humans.
  5. Functional Groups in Organic Compounds – gives the diagram that relates functional groups to their chemical structure.
  6. Flavor & Scent: The Esters Responsible – source of the diagram for the esters section of the aroma compound page.
  7. Terpene Definition – Merriam-Webster’s official dictionary definition of a terpene.
  8. Terpenes: A Simple But Actionable 2020 Guide – a guide to terpenes in hemp and the source of the image linking terpene groups to odors.
  9. Research finds Cannabis terpenes as a promising new target for pain therapies – research findings on terpenes that indicate the compounds may be useful in developing pain mediation techniques.
  10. The Cannabis Terpenes – research describing the structures of terpenes and their significance to the cannabis industry.
  11. Amines and the Landscape of Chemical Stink – a chemical researcher’s account of the characteristic odor of amino groups.
  12. Organosulfur Compounds – details the various odors associated with compounds containing thiol groups
  13. The Chemical Compounds Behind the Smell of Flowers – website that gives information about the various compounds of flowers and their contributions to the distinct smells we associate with them.

Fun research

  1. Discovery of Volatile Biomarkers of Parkinson’s Disease from Sebum – research article that examines the use of sebum from the backs of patients to generate a biomarker for Parkinson’s disease.
  2. Her Incredible Sense Of Smell Is Helping Scientists Find New Ways To Diagnose Disease – an NPR 7-minute listen and associated article that covers Joy Milne’s story.
  3. Discovering the smell of Parkinson’s – the University of Edinburgh’s summary of how Parkinson’s disease has a scent to it.
  4. Smelling Parkinson’s Disease: New Metabolomic Biomarker for PD – research highlighting the necessity for a biomarker for Parkinson’s.
  5. The Smell of Parkinson’s Disease – the American Parkinson’s Disease Association description of what biomarkers are and how dogs and humans can detect the disease by scent.
  6. Dogs are Teaching Machines to Sniff Out Cancer – learn more about how researchers are developing a machine learning based “E-nose” trained on dogs senses of smell for cancer detection.
  7. Canine Cancer Detection Wiki – Wikipedia rundown on canine cancer detection.
  8. The Electronic Nose – research providing a survey of the electronic nose technology emerging to diagnose lung cancer with a biomarker.
  9. Meet the Dogs! – the Prostate Cancer Foundation's introduction to the dogs sniffing out cancer currently.
  10. Can Dogs Detect Cancer? – the medical significance of dogs’ keen sense of smell and the source of the image on the fun facts page of this website.
  11. Smell with inspiration: The evolutionary significance of olfaction. – a broad overview of the evolution of olfaction across species and its significance to survival.
  12. The Birth and Death of Olfactory Receptor Gene Families in Mammalian Niche Adaptation – an in-depth analysis of olfactory receptor gene evolution in mammals. The graphic from the fun facts page can be found in this article.
  13. Elephants have twice as many olfactory receptor genes as dogs – research article explaining the difference in olfactory receptor genes in different animals. The graphic from the fun facts page can be found in this article.
  14. The Smell of Evolution – National Geographic’s overview on how the olfactory pathway evolved, focusing mainly on olfactory receptor encoding genes.
  15. Evolution of Olfaction Wiki – Wikipedia's brief introduction to the evolution of olfaction.
  16. Sex Differences in Human Olfaction – a meta-analysis on human olfaction that finds females to exhibit olfactory superiority.

Protein modeling

  1. Why GPCRs are Difficult to Study – a thorough explanation of the difficulties in experimentally determining the structure of G–protein coupled receptors.
  2. Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold – research article which details the AlphaFold model.
  3. What's next for AlphaFold and the AI protein-folding revolution – projections about expansions to the AlphaFold model and what it means for research more generally.
  4. The Importance of Odorant Conformation to the Binding and Activation of a Representative Olfactory Receptor – research article exploring how protein conformation is crucial to the olfactory system’s functionality, highlighting how understanding protein structure and compound interactions is vital to unlocking information about the olfactory system.
  5. Computational Approaches for Decoding Select Odorant-Olfactory Receptor Interactions Using Mini-Virtual Screening – a research project from 2015 detailing visualizations of compound-protein interactions. The image from the research paper is used in the website.
  6. OlfactionBase – open-source repository for exploration of odors, odorants, and olfactory receptors and their interactions.
  7. Large-Scale G Protein-Coupled Olfactory Receptor–Ligand Pairing – database and associated research article for olfactory receptor-ligand pairings.
  8. OR4D6 – AlphaFold Protein Structure Database, specifically the structure of the OR4D6 olfactory receptor.
  9. From musk to body odor: Decoding olfaction through genetic variation – research article that links galaxolide to OR4D6 and a musky odor.
  10. MONN: A Multi-objective Neural Network for Predicting Compound-Protein Interactions and Affinities – exploration of current developments in machine learning models for predicting compound-protein interactions
  11. Deep learning integration of molecular and interactome data for protein–compound interaction prediction – contemporary research on machine learning for protein-compound interactions. This article is the source of the network architecture image.