Giorgia Sollai

Dept. of Biomedical Sciences, Sect. of Physiology

Telephone: +39 070 675 4160 (Office) – 4193 (Lab)

Personal webpage: here

Main areas of expertise: smell perception and individual variability; perception of odor-active compounds; smell modulation; electrophysiological recordings; smell, food choices and BMI.

Main Research Topics:

The olfactory system: variability and physiological roles.

The research is mainly aimed at the study of the physiology of the olfactory system in humans, integrating psychophysical, molecular biology, neurobiology, genetics, nutrition and electrophysiological methods. In particular, the objectives of this research are aimed at identifying, studying and understanding:

the genetic, environmental and social factors underlying the inter-individual variability of both general and specific olfactory function for the threshold, discrimination and identification abilities of complex odors and single compounds;
the role of the olfactory system in the food choices and eating behavior of individuals;
the role of the olfactory system in inter-individual relationships;
variations of the olfactory function in relation to different physiological states (age, sex, nutritional status, etc…) and different physio-pathological conditions (obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, viral infections, etc…).

Key Publications:

Sollai G, Crnjar R (2023) Association among Olfactory Function, Lifestyle and BMI in Female and Male Elderly Subjects: A Cross-Sectional Study. Nutrients 15, 2492. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15112492
Crnjar R, Solari P, Sollai G (2023) The Human Nose as a Chemical Sensor in the Perception of Coffee Aroma: Individual Variability. Chemosensors 11, 248. https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors11040248
Velluzzi F, Deledda A, Lombardo M, Fosci M, Crnjar R, Grossi E, Sollai G (2023) Application of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to Elucidate the Connections among Smell, Obesity with Related Metabolic Alterations, and Eating Habit in Patients with Weight Excess. Metabolites 13, 206. https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo13020206.
Melis M, Tomassini Barbarossa I, Crnjar R, Sollai G (2022) Olfactory Sensitivity Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Polymorphism in the Voltage-Gated Potassium Channels Kv1.3. Nutrients 14, 4986. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14234986.
Velluzzi F, Deledda A, Onida M, Loviselli A, Crnjar R, Sollai G (2022) Relationship between Olfactory Function and BMI in Normal Weight Healthy Subjects and Patients with Overweight or Obesity. Nutrients 14, 1262. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14061262.
Sollai G and Crnjar R (2021). Age-Related Olfactory Decline Is Associated with Levels of Exercise and Non-exercise Physical Activities. Front Aging Neurosci 13, 695115. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.695115.
Giorgia Sollai, Melania Melis, Mariano Mastinu, Danilo Paduano, Fabio Chicco, Salvatore Magri, Paolo Usai, Thomas Hummel, Iole Tomassini Barbarossa, Roberto Crnjar (2021) Olfactory Function in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Is Associated with Their Body Mass Index and Polymorphism in the Odor Binding-Protein (OBPIIa) Gene. Nutrients, 13, 703. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020703.
Melania Melis, Iole Tomassini Barbarossa, Thomas Hummel, Roberto Crnjar, Giorgia Sollai (2021) Effect of the rs2890498 polymorphism of the OBPIIa gene on the human ability to smell single molecules. Behav Brain Res, 402, 113127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113127.
Sollai G, Tomassini Barbarossa I, Usai P, Hummel T, Crnjar R (2020). Association between human olfactory performance and ability to detect single compounds in complex chemical mixtures. Physiology and Behavior, 217, 112820. DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.112820.
Giorgia Sollai, Melania Melis, Salvatore Magri, Paolo Usai, Thomas Hummel, Iole Tomassini Barbarossa, Roberto Crnjar (2019). Association between the rs2590498 polymorphism of Odorant Binding Protein (OBPIIa) gene and olfactory performance in healthy subjects. Behav Brain Res, 372, 112030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112030.