The Rose consortium

Rose is an interdisciplinary research project that combines nanotechnology, microtechnology, biotechnology, mechanical design, neurosurgery, clinical olfaction, neuroscience and cognitive psychology. It involves seven European partners.

Responsible for project coordination and management, the CNRS team at the Centre for Research in Neuroscience (Lyon, France) will evaluate the psycho-physical responses of patients with and without sensory deficits to a range of odorants and stimulations.

Project Coordinator / Leader of WP1 and WP6

The CEA LETI (Grenoble, France) is expert in nanotechnology. Their rôle will be to develop a new generation of miniaturized odor sensors based on the gravimetric measurement principle, using Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers (CMUT) as micro-resonators.

Leader of WP2

At the Dresden University of Technology (Dresden, Germany) the prototype technology will be tested by direct stimulation of central brain structures in implanted patients with epilepsy or in patients undergoing awake brain surgery.

Leader of WP5

At the Politecnico di Milano (Milano, Italy) novel 3D printing technologies will be used to create bespoke miniaturized artificial noses. They will develop the methodology for the acquisition and modelling of the human nasal cavity and provide mechanical design support.

The Aryballe team (Grenoble, France) is expert in creating devices to analyse odors. They will be responsible for integrating the sensors and the stimulators into a proof of concept device.

Leader of WP4 and WP7

The role of the clinical olfaction team at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki, Greece) will be to test the prototype devices in patients.

The team at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland) will develop the prototype neurostimulation devices.

Leader of WP3