Musky smell
Joy's husband Les died in 2015, at the age of 65 |
Dr Tilo Kunath, from Edinburgh University's school of biological sciences, was one of the first scientists Joy spoke to |
She correctly identified the six worn by Parkinson's patients, but could also smell the odour on a T-shirt worn by someone in the control group without Parkinson's.
Joy was told three months later that this person had in fact been diagnosed with Parkinson's after the T-shirt tests.
No cure
Dr Kunath said: "She was telling us that this individual had Parkinson's before he knew, before anybody knew.
"So then I really started to believe her, that she could really detect Parkinson's simply by odour that was transferred on to a shirt that the person with Parkinson's was wearing."
Joy's husband died in 2015, aged 65.
There is no cure for the disease and Joy's last promise to him was that she would investigate her special ability and how it might help others.
Dr Kunath has enlisted the help of Prof Perdita Barran, an expert in chemical analysis from Manchester University, to try to isolate the actual molecules that form the odour that Joy is able to smell.
Prof Perdita Barran and her team found that people with Parkinson's seem to have some different molecules, which is what Joy is smelling
Prof Barran's team collected samples from patients with Parkinson's and a control group of those without, to see if there were molecular signatures that only people with the disease have.
The samples were put through a mass spectrometer, a device that isolates and weighs individual molecules.
The first set of results indicated there were 10 molecules distinctive to Parkinson's sufferers.
Prof Barran said: "It is very humbling as a mere measurement scientist to have this ability to help find some signature molecules to diagnose Parkinson's. It wouldn't have happened without Joy.
"For all the serendipity, it was Joy and Les who were absolutely convinced that what she could smell would be something that could be used in a clinical context and so now we are beginning to do that."
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