Research Area: Quantum Biology of Olfaction

The Problem

Animals possess an astonishing ability to detect extremely low concentrations of chemicals, with a response time and sensitivity that far surpass any human-made tools. Imagine a device capable of "smelling" diseases like cancer or diabetes by identifying relevant chemicals in urine or breath, much like trained dogs. Such technology could revolutionize diagnostics in developing nations.

Our Research

A highly debated but promising theory suggests that olfaction (smelling) occurs when the vibrational energy of an odorant aligns with the electronic transitions of olfactory receptors, enabling quantum tunneling of electrons through the odorant. Regardless of whether this process is truly involved in natural olfaction, its principles could be applied to develop highly sensitive chemical detection methods. Our research focuses on building a pump-probe based Ultrafast Raman spectroscopy setup. This will allow us to investigate, with femtosecond resolution, the temporal dynamics of interactions between the vibrational energy of an odorant and tunable "artificial receptors."