In a new paper published in Science Advances, Takeuchi and colleagues did just that. They tapped the odor-sensing components of a Yellow Fever mosquito (yikes), and rebuilt the entire construct with synthetic biology. Using a parallel chip design, they then carefully placed these biological components as an array onto a chip and monitored the setup with a computer.
— The Biohybrid Systems Laboratory at the University of Tokyo is working on an AI nose. Read more in Scientists Made a Biohybrid Nose Using Cells From Mosquitoes at Singularity Hub.
The article indicates that they used a secret process to build their computer, and does not indicate if they tried to compare their machine’s results to that of an actual mosquito (or even if they can figure out whether a mosquito smells something).
Interesting research concept them.
Mosquitoes find prey via olfaction…DEET works by jamming the olfactory receptors, or something like that.
For the rest of it, sounds like it is still early days 🙂