Team:Paris Bettencourt

It has always been the objective of iGEM Paris Bettencourt to conduct novel projects. This year, our team has decided to explore a topic that has rarely been approached by synthetic biologists in this competition: odor.

Human olfaction relies on a tremendous number of cellular receptors that can detect specific molecules in the air. Upon the detection of combination of these compounds, a message is sent to the brain, which leads to the perception of one unique odor. There is considerable work left to do in order to understand the sense of smell, especially in determining how olfactory receptors operate. Few synthetic biologists have tried to engineer bacteria to produce smell or to treat bad smell since the production of odor by microorganisms is not studied often. One reason for the lack of study in this area is that it is hard to quantify and characterize an odor. We will overcome this by using odor pro- fessionals and commonly used scientific tools. We want to do this in order to investigate the links between our skin microbiota and body odor, as well as the perception of one's body odor by others.