Research
I work on how people perceive smell and how that perception can be measured, trained and shared. Olfactory literacy is a skill anyone can learn.
preprint: medRxiv, Mar 31, 2026
SMELL-RS: A Self-administered, Digital Test for Olfactory Dysfunction that is Rapid, Reliable, and Accurate
Julien W. Hsieh, M Dougherty, Aikaterini Poulopoulou, Déborah Blidariu, Pascal Senn, Richard Hopper, Devarsh Patel, Emanuela Maggioni, Marianna Obrist, Leslie B. Vosshall, Andreas Keller, Basile N. Landis
About the project and my part in it
- DOI
- 10.64898/2026.03.28.26349316
- ORCID
- 0009-0005-5714-9230
- Contributions
- User testing and data collection, rapid prototyping, cartridges and odor mixtures, quality assurance, accessible app design, media and figures
- Finding
- In 100 people the test was reliable (ICC 0.71), agreed with Sniffin’ Sticks (r 0.68), and ran two to three times faster
Positions
- 2019 to 2025Research consultant, SMELL-RS, Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University
- 2022Research technician, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia
- 2023Artist in residence, BU Arts Initiative, Boston University, sponsored by Dr. Meg Younger
- 2022 to 2024Board of Directors, OSMOCOSM: Global Machine Olfaction Conference
Workshops and editing
- 2024Editor, Christopher Rose and Andreas Mershin, Perceptual Engineering: How Olfaction and Other Senses Create Reality, Rebel Minds
- 2022NSF Convergence Accelerator workshop: Frontiers in Chemical Sensing: Synthetic, Neuromorphic, and Cyborg Systems (PI Barani Raman)
- 2022NSF Convergence Accelerator workshop: Chemical Sensing with an Olfaction Analogue (PI Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna)
Tools
Field Notes, the software I built for my perfumery practice.
Odor Organ, an instrument and notation for teaching accords by playing them.
Somatic Atlas, a reference kit for the scents of the human body.
Writing
Scent Made Digital, essays on the cultural, scientific and creative potential of scent. Recent essays include The Quantum Nose, Olfactory White, Uninvited.