This opportunity is for Caltech students only


Project Description:
The goal of this project is to compare the response of the Caltech "Electronic Nose" with the response of the mammalian olfactory system in an actual nose as monitored by the response of rats to various odors. Trained rats will be asked to distinguish between various solvents and solvent mixtures with reward given to the rat for a success. The ability of these rats to dintinguish between solvents will be compared to the data from a conducting polymer based electronic nose that has been developed recently at Caltech to investigate the similarities and differences between the two sensing systems.

Background Information:

Composite blends of polymers and insulators have been used to fabricate arrays of chemically sensitive resistors that can identify and discriminate various odorants in complex mixtures. Such arrays provide an "Electronic Nose" that can be used to identify various smells. Research is also underway to use neural; network analysis to assign quantitative values to human value judgments such as the price of a bottle of wine or the smell of a perfume.

Literature References or articles that may provide more information on the project:

Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, Volume 92, pp 2652-2656, March 1995

Requirements (skills, specific coursework, academic major, year in school, etc.):
Any level, sophomores and juniors preferred with Chem. 41 background.

Research Sponsor Name: Nathan S. Lewis
E-Mail: nslewis@cco.caltech.edu
Division: CCE
Telephone: 6335
Address: 127-72

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