Winner of the 2025 Young Researcher Award from the GDR Odorant, Odor, Olfaction (GDR O3), Anna Athanassi is pursuing her research at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (NEUROPOP team).
Her work, entitled “Smelling Well to Feel Well: Early Stress and Alteration of Hedonic Perception of Odors,” explores the connections between olfaction, emotions, and mental health.
She highlights how early-life stress can alter the perception of pleasant odors and durably impact the brain circuits involved in pleasure and reward.
Fonds de Dotation Per Fumum: Could you tell us about the starting point of your research? What led you to explore the link between early stress and olfactory perception?
Anna Athanassi:
“From a theoretical standpoint, I began my research by studying the relationship between depression and olfaction in a broad sense. This was during the Covid period, when it became clear that the loss of smell led to a decrease in well-being, even depressive states.
Starting from that observation, I wrote a literature review on the bidirectional relationship between olfaction and depression. My goal was to understand why such a strong link exists between the two, where it comes from, how it manifests across different types of depression, and what olfactory disturbances can be observed. This review became the theoretical foundation of my thesis.
On a more practical level, I had completed my master’s internship in the laboratory where I now work. At the time, I was interested in odors from the perspective of well-being and emotions. A researcher from the team, who was studying how our brain encodes the fact of liking or disliking an odor, suggested that I continue this project by trying to understand why and how we lose this ability to enjoy smells in a model of early stress. That’s how I began working on this subject.
We then decided to focus on a particular type of depression — that related to early stress — because it affects a developmental period during which odors play a particularly important role.”
Fonds de Dotation Per Fumum: Your research was conducted using a mouse model. To what extent can your results be applied to the human brain? What insights does this provide for understanding human brain function?
Anna Athanassi:
“Indeed, I worked with mice because this model allows for precise study of brain mechanisms, especially neural networks — something that’s much harder to do in humans.
My thesis was conducted in collaboration with the CR2 team at the Vinatier Hospital, which specializes in research on psychiatric disorders and mental health. This team works with patients suffering from severe, treatment-resistant depression, sometimes associated with suicide attempts.
These patients are treated in particular with transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The goal of this technique is to enhance or potentiate the effects of depression treatments. On our side, we focus on odors. We hypothesized that exposure to pleasant odors could stimulate the brain’s reward system and thus promote well-being.
The idea is that beginning treatment while already feeling a bit better — thanks to this olfactory stimulation of the reward system — could strengthen or prolong the treatment’s effects. The aim, of course, is not to say that odors can curedepression, but that they might improve or facilitate existing treatments.”
Fonds de Dotation Per Fumum: You mention the role of dopamine, triggered by pleasant odors, in hedonic perception. Is it a powerful enough lever to counteract stress or depression?
Anna Athanassi:
“Depression is a multifactorial phenomenon, so I wouldn’t say that dopamine alone is enough to restore everything. It’s not because we ‘reactivate’ the dopaminergic system that everything immediately gets better.
However, dopamine plays a key role in the link between olfaction and emotion, because the brain area that secretes it is directly, or almost directly, connected to the olfactory system. It’s our entry point for acting on the brain circuits involved in motivation and pleasure.
But again, depression involves multiple dysfunctions — that’s why some patients are resistant to medication. Treatments that target a single mechanism are not always sufficient. Our olfactory approach therefore represents one possible pathway among others: complementary, but not exclusive.”
Fonds de Dotation Per Fumum: What potential clinical applications could your research offer for managing depression? How will clinical trials be organized?
Anna Athanassi:
“As for the precise scheduling of clinical trials, I can’t yet answer.
However, some more direct applications are already emerging. For example, after the Covid period, many studies have shown that olfactory training can help people who are depressed or who have lost their sense of smell feel better.
Clinically, the work we are conducting with the CR2 team is promising, and if results continue to be positive, they will likely be implemented soon in healthcare settings.”
Fonds de Dotation Per Fumum: How do you perceive the contribution of the GDR O3 network in your research journey?
Anna Athanassi:
“I’ve been part of GDR O3 for four years and attended every edition throughout my PhD. What I particularly appreciate is the continuity — you meet the same researchers from one year to the next and can follow the evolution of their work, which is very enriching.
GDR O3 also offers great diversity in approaches, ranging from fundamental science to more applied aspects of olfaction. For example, I discovered presentations on the scent of books or paint — areas I’d never have thought of!
This year, I especially appreciated the talks on olfactotherapy, which directly resonate with my topic. They reinforced my belief that my research can have a concrete application: helping people feel better through scents. That’s incredibly motivating and reminds me that what I do — even at the level of a mouse’s neurons — can have a real impact on human well-being.”
Fonds de Dotation Per Fumum: What personal role do odors play in your daily life and well-being?
Anna Athanassi:
“Since working on this topic, I’ve become much more attentive to odors. Before, I didn’t pay them much attention, but now I know how deeply they influence our well-being.
I pay attention to the smell of my home, my loved ones, and to the scents that comfort me. I try to regularly stimulate my sense of smell because I know it contributes to emotional balance. Even when choosing my perfumes, I take more time — before, I’d just pick something that ‘smells good,’ but now I understand that these choices have a deep emotional impact.”
Fonds de Dotation Per Fumum: What are your next projects?
Anna Athanassi:
“The aspect that fascinated me most in my research is the link between olfaction, well-being, and mental health — a path I’d like to continue exploring.
So far, we’ve studied only one type of depression, that linked to early stress, but there are other equally interesting forms to investigate, such as postpartum depression, where odors (especially those of the baby) play a major role.
There’s still so much to explore in this field, and I hope to continue contributing to this research.
I’m also very happy to have presented my work at GDR O3 and honored to have received the Young Researcher Award.”
