Odyssei: Decoding the Sense of Smell

Our multiplexed lab validation for olfactory biology. Thousands of receptor and odorant interactions mapped in one streamlined experiment, analyzed by Sensai.

Why Smell

The sense of smell is one of biology's most complex receptor systems. Thousands of subtle, overlapping interactions make traditional mapping costly and incomplete. Odyssei demonstrates how our lean multiplexed assay can reveal this network at scale.

How Odyssei Works

One experiment tests thousands of odorants against hundreds of receptors in parallel. Each pair is barcoded for sequencing.

No expensive robotics or massive infrastructure. One run delivers a full interaction matrix.

Sensai processes this raw data, runs quality checks, aligns reads, and generates a reproducible map of receptor binding and activation. Modular, fast, and versioned by design.

Why This Matters

Odyssei is our flagship stress test for multiplexed mapping. It proves our lab validation pipeline works where traditional methods fail. The same principle applies to other high-value systems — immune mapping, neuroreceptors, pathogen interactions.

Partner With Us

We are seeking partners for applications in flavor, fragrance, sensory health, and advanced R&D. Odyssei is open for early pilot collaborations.

Scent Digitization Challenges

01Many-to-Many Receptor Mapping
Multiple odorants bind to multiple receptors, making scent reproduction complex.
The docking relies on structural compatibility, with multiple receptors binding to multiple odorants, creating complexity in accurately reproducing specific smells.
02High-Dimensional Odor Space
Odor perception spans many dimensions—science is still mapping them.
Some studies suggest the dimensionality of odor space ranges from a low dimensional (e.g., 6–30) to a high dimensional (e.g., more than hundreds). The exact number is still an open question in olfactory research, as the olfactory system is incredibly complex, diverse and underexplored.
03Reproducibility Across Platforms
Different devices yield varied results, limiting compatibility and scalability.
Different odor reproduction systems, such as olfactory displays and mass spectrometry-based devices, often yield varied results depending on the method and the set of base components used, limiting cross-system compatibility and scalability.