A team led by Anandasankar Ray, a professor at UCR in the molecular, cell and systems biology department made a interesting finding through lab experiments opening up the possibility to some day in the near future be able to, "inhale scents that delay the onset of cancer, inflammation, or neurodegenerative disease. Diacetyl is a microbial volatile compound and this compound was used in the research which showed that exposure to diacetyl caused changes in gene expression. Through the exposure of diacetyl to other living organisms during the research, it was evident that exposure to an odorant can have the power to alter your genes - without the need of consumption. This discovery proposes a new way to delay a disease, and hints to a new reality of scent-based therapy.