Testing in humans
The Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) is a university that unites the natural and engineering sciences with the humanities, social sciences and medicine in a way that is unique in Germany. The TUD promotes interdisciplinarity and contributes to the integration of science and society.
The clinic and polyclinic for ear, nose and throat medicine represents the entire spectrum of the specialist field in the diagnosis and therapy of singular and complex diseases. The clinic has an inpatient ward for 3000 patients/year, a day clinic ward and a ward for outpatient operations. In the polyclinic, 12,000 patients are presented to us every year, mostly by specialists. The ENT clinic is one of the leading clinics worldwide for the development and use of new methods and technologies for microsurgery and implantable hearing systems.
The interdisciplinary « Smell and Taste » centre was set up at the University ENT Clinic in Dresden in 1998. It gives diagnostic therapeutic advice to patients with smell and taste disorders. Research projects deal with aspects of trigeminal chemoreception as well as differences between ortho- and retronasal olfaction. In addition to the work on improved diagnostics and therapy of olfactory disorders there are ongoing studies on the impairment of the ability to smell and taste in neurodegenerative diseases.
The team
Thomas Hummel, leader WP5, heads the interdisciplinary centre “Smell and Taste” at the ENT Clinic of the University of Dresden in Germany. This includes an olfactory/gustatory dysfunction clinic also involving patients with neurodegenerative causes of olfactory loss, and investigations in the intranasal trigeminal system. Investigations in these areas are performed using electrophysiological (olfactory event-related potentials, recordings from the mucosa of the nasal cavity), psychophysical, and imaging techniques (MRI).
Antje Hähner works as a full-time Professor at the interdisciplinary centre “Smell and Taste” at the ENT Clinic of the University of Dresden in Germany. Her focus is on neurodegenerative disorders, which also involve olfactory dysfunction, e.g. Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease
Susanne Weise is medical doctor working in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery at Universitätsklinikum Dresden and is a Research Scientist at the interdisciplinary centre “Smell and Taste” at the ENT Clinic of the University of Dresden in Germany. Her main interests are the sense of smell, olfactory dysfunctions and related therapeutic options.
Dino Podlesek is a medical doctor working as senior consultant at the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Clinic Dresden, Germany. He specialises in spinal surgery, neurovascular neurosurgery, neurovascular monitoring, CSF re-absorption routes, perioperative imaging, vascular anastomoses. He also has a specific focus on olfactory issues in neurosurgery, including MRI based assessment of the olfactory bulbs, or immune-histological investigations of the bulb.
Coralie Mignot is a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at the interdisciplinary centre “Smell and Taste” at the ENT Clinic of the University of Dresden in Germany. She uses neuroimaging tools to probe cerebral function and dysfunctions in the field of olfaction. Her work also involves investigations in nasal trigeminal sensitivity. On the methodological side she uses state-of the-art psychophysics, EEG-analyses, and MRI based techniques.
Anna Oleszkiewicz is a psychologist. She works since 2016 as a postdoc at the interdisciplinary centre “Smell and Taste” at the ENT Clinic of the University of Dresden in Germany (part-time). She did numerous field studies involving the sense of smell, in Tanzania, the Cook Islands, Sweden, or Norway. Apart from that, most of her work focuses on psychophysical investigations of the human chemical senses in health and disease, and her work also includes studies based on MRI.
Vanda Faria is a clinical psychologist. She works part-time at the interdisciplinary centre “Smell and Taste” at the ENT Clinic of the University of Dresden in Germany. Her main research is focused on the neurobiology underlying placebo responsivity in both pediatric and adult populations and olfactory communication.