PET scan
$3,000–$7,000 / scan
Not scalable for population screening
Ultra-early, non-invasive olfactory screening for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The body emits a disease-related odor signature years before symptoms — a trained biological nose reads it. This page summarizes NeuroNose's application to the OIST Innovation Accelerator.
Co-founder already resident in Okinawa as an OIST Staff Scientist — the on-the-ground commitment the program screens for.
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's progress silently for 10–15 years before the first clinical symptoms. By diagnosis, much of the neurological damage is already irreversible — and today's gold-standard tools cannot screen a population.
$3,000–$7,000 / scan
Not scalable for population screening
Invasive procedure
Low patient acceptance
Expensive imaging
Detects late-stage damage only
Free observation
Appear 10–15 years too late
The category exists. Healthcare needs a scalable, non-invasive screening test — and none exists.
People with Parkinson's emit a disease-related volatile (VOC) signature — notably in skin sebum. A simple swab captures it.
A trained biological olfactory system — dogs, rats, bees — discriminates the signature. Phase 2 reproduces this in a neuromorphic sensor.
A risk flag identifies who should get confirmatory neurological evaluation — years earlier, non-invasively.
We do not test the patient's own sense of smell. Human smell loss (hyposmia) is a separate phenomenon we do not rely on. We read a chemical signature the body emits — using an animal's nose as the instrument.
Humans are the screened population. Animals — and later the sensor — are detection instrumentation, never the customer.
Trained dogs detected Parkinson's from sebum in double-blind, peer-reviewed studies — the detectable signal, demonstrated.
The underlying molecular VOC signature characterized by mass spectrometry (ACS Central Science) — the chemistry, identified.
The signal detected at the prodromal stage — before clinical diagnosis — in iRBD patients (npj Parkinson's Disease). The window, confirmed.
Honest scope. PD evidence is strong and replicated. For Alzheimer's the emitted signature is not yet characterized — Parkinson's is the lead indication; our Alzheimer's work is early.
These are the field's results — proof the biomarker exists, not NeuroNose's own validation data. Our own results live in Traction, below.
Mail-in human samples, read by trained animals (dogs, rats, bees), run from a low-cost Mexico operations base.
A bio-inspired silicon sensor reproduces olfactory detection in hardware, focused on the Parkinson's volatilome.
Phase 1 is not the consolation prize — it is the moat and the cash engine that builds the sensor.
Three co-founders + Scientific Advisor. National Researchers (SNI) members; OIST and Universidad Veracruzana inside the team.
Two universities collaborating: Universidad Veracruzana (animal validation) and OIST (Doya Lab). No equity entanglement.
Three-species detection pipeline — dogs, rats, bees — with training protocols defined and running at UV.
Neuromorphic olfactory sensor collaboration active; Phase 2 path de-risked by published work.
A growing proprietary VOC dataset plus enclosure and sensor designs; provisional filing planned with OIST support.
First paid customer sample processed end-to-end (target on close). Independent replication inside our own protocol. Provisional patent filing (drafted; follows incorporation).
This is exactly IRL 2–3: the commercial application is identified and the need is confirmed conceptually. Field validation in Japan is what the program is for — its absence is in-spec, not a gap.
The core technology — the biological olfactory detection layer — is validated in a controlled lab: trained dogs distinguish PD-positive from negative human samples, with promising early rat results and bee training underway.
A commercial application is identified — B2B research, clinical triage, and pharma screening — and the market need is confirmed at a conceptual level. Field validation in Japan is still ahead.
Validated in the lab, not yet tested in the field with real users — the precise TRL-4 / IRL 2–3 window the Accelerator selects for.
Find prodromal trial participants imaging cannot. Pre-screening cuts recruitment cost and trial failure.
A low-cost, non-invasive triage step before expensive PET / MRI referral.
Often relatives of patients, wanting early risk information through a clinician.
Guardrail. Animals and animal trainers are never customers — trained animals are instrumentation. A trainer is a customer only as an individual seeking their own result.
We don't have to teach people to want screening. A paid, annual, preventive-screening behaviour already exists — a non-invasive olfactory test slots straight into it.
Our Phase 1 detection layer uses animal olfactory biology as the sensing layer for a human-health tool, then translates it into a sensor. We operationalize the human–animal health interface — we don't just reference it.
Okinawa's aging population mirrors the national challenge — an ideal local testbed before national rollout. We would build high-value scientific jobs and an olfactory-sensing capability on the island.
Neuroscientist (PhD). Leads company strategy and Phase 1 screening operations, digital-health systems, and partner-facing go-to-market.
Universidad Veracruzana; animal cognition and training. Builds and runs the Phase 1 biological detection pipeline.
Computational neuroscientist, 25+ yrs in AI. OIST Staff Scientist (Doya Lab). Already resident in Okinawa. Holds no executive officer role in NeuroNose.
Computational neuroscientist in learning, olfaction, and neuromorphic hardware. Prototyping a bio-inspired odor-identification sensing device. Advises on the Phase 2 sensor concept. Advisor, not a co-founder.
One researcher/scientist on the founding team — satisfied twice over (Rosalba and Jovan). The founding team is Rosalba, Pedro, and Jovan. Kevin advises.
Governance & conflict of interest. Jovan is an OIST Staff Scientist and a co-founder of NeuroNose. He holds no executive officer role: company leadership sits with Rosalba Aguilar as CEO, who is also the applicant of record for this program. Kevin Max advises NeuroNose and is not a co-founder; any advisory equity will be granted under a written advisor agreement and disclosed. This separation is deliberate, and NeuroNose will disclose and manage both relationships under OIST's conflict-of-interest procedures.
Use the ¥10M and the Discover phase to run Japan customer-discovery across CRO/pharma, neurology, and the ningen-dock channel.
Advance the neuromorphic sensor and the proprietary dataset using OIST's facilities and research network.
Turn identified channels into LOIs and paid pilots through the Go phase — leaving investment-ready with a data room.
Use visa, relocation, and incorporation support to establish a Japanese operating entity on the island.
Replicated science. The world's strongest demographic market. A team already inside OIST. That's the bet.