Researchers have found that an olfactory receptor plays a critical role in the progression of prostate cancer. They found that activating the receptor -- called OR51E2 -- in prostate cancer cells caused the cancer to morph into the more aggressive, castration-resistant form of the disease. The finding suggests that taking the opposite approach -- blocking the receptor with specific molecules, or perhaps even with specific scents -- could provide a new way to treat prostate cancer.

— Read more at Smell receptor fuels prostate cancer progression at Science Daily.

Malaria infection does not create new volatile chemicals in the body, but alters the amounts—up or down—of volatile chemicals that are already present in the odors of healthy people.

"It is interesting that the symptomatic and asymptomatic infections were different from each other as well as from healthy people," said Mark C. Mescher, adjunct professor of biology, Penn State, and professor of environmental systems science, ETH Zurich.

This difference among infected, infected asymptomatic, and healthy individuals may eventually lead to tests capable of rapidly and accurately identifying infected people, even those without symptoms.

— Read more at Altered body odor indicates malaria even if microscope doesn't at Medical Xpress.

[Victor] Batista and his colleagues are proponents of a theory that smell is initiated by specific molecular interactions between odorants and G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) in the olfactory epithelium in the nasal cavity, triggering memories and eliciting responses based on experiences with that scent. Previous research by the group identified two olfactory receptors in humans, OR5AN1 and OR1A1, that respond to musk compounds.

[...] The researchers developed structural models of OR5AN1 and OR1A1 based on quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics hybrid methods, a molecular simulation method that enables the study of chemical processes in solution and in proteins. These structural models predicted binding sites on OR5AN1 and OR1A1 for a variety of musks.

— Read more at Advancing the science of smell — with a hint of musk at Yale News. If you need a refresher course, see Shape theory of olfaction at Wikipedia.

“We felt the need to keep these olfactory memories,” says Rabeau. Along with chemist Geraldine Savary from the University of Havre, he and Apalategui spent eight years developing a technique to reproduce human scent. The process remains a closely guarded secret, but in a 2015 interview, Savary gave a few clues: “we take the person’s clothing and extract the odour—which represents about a hundred molecules—and we reconstruct it in the form of a perfume in four days.”

— Read more at Immortalizing Human Scents as Memory Perfumes at Atlas Obscura.

Northwestern University researchers have developed a new "smell virtual landscape" that enables the study of how smells engage the brain's navigation system. The work demonstrates, for the first time, that the mammalian brain can form a map of its surroundings based solely on smells.

— Read more at Brain can navigate based solely on smells at Science Daily.