Work has begun on ROSE, the project funded by the European Union which sees Politecnico as one of the seven leading European partners.
The ROSE project is dedicated to people affected by a total or partial loss of smell (anosmia and hyposmia) and aims at developing technologies to give them support. Unlike other sensory systems, to date there is no way to partially or totally restore the sense of smell, once damaged.
The ROSE project combines disciplines such as nanotechnology, microtechnology, biotechnology, mechanical design, neurosurgery, clinical olfaction, neuroscience and cognitive psychology, with the aim of verifying the feasibility of a olfactory prosthesis miniaturized that combines micro odor sensors and neural stimulators .
In fact, it is estimated that the loss of smell affects about 20% of the world population, with a recent increase due to the Covid-19 pandemic, since about 1 in 2 infected registers anosmia or hyposmia among its symptoms.
Our University plays a fundamental role in the development of the project: under the guidance of the professors Marina Carulli and Monica Bordegoni of the Department of Mechanics, Politecnico will develop customized miniaturized olfactory receptors and will have to design, test and produce prototypes of miniaturized olfactory prostheses, using 3D printing technologies .
The project is funded with over € 3 million by the European Union under the H2020 Pathfinder Pilot program. In addition to the Politecnico the participants are Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CNRS, France), Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland), Aryballe (France), Aristotelio Panepistimio Thessalonikis (Greece) and CEA LETI (France ).
Find out all about frontier research at Politecnico and on the topics defined by the European Commission as part of the Recovery Plan. Visit the Next Generation EU website of the Politecnico di Milano .
