Led by Dr Perdita Barran, now based at the University of Manchester, the NoseToDiagnose team won for a novel approach to early Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and stratification using a simple non-invasive skin swab.
The project was made possible due to the unique ability of Joy Milne to recognise a unique but subtle scent when people have Parkinson's Disease. Joy initially approached Dr Kunath with this insight after a talk he gave at CRM to a Parkinson's Research Interest Group. In a pilot study, Joy accurately sorted Parkinson’s patients from healthy people by smelling T-shirts they had worn for 24 hours. Together they worked with Dr Barran to begin to establish what Joy was smelling.
