A computational microscope focused on the sense of smell

•Review dealing with the molecular steps of the perception of smell.•Focus on molecular modeling approaches on Odorant-Binding Proteins.•Focus on molecular modeling approaches on Olfactory Receptors.

In this article, we review studies of the protagonists of the perception of smell focusing on Odorant-Binding Proteins and Olfactory Receptors. We notably put forward studies performed by means of molecular modeling, generally combined with experimental data. Those works clearly emphasize that computational approaches are now a force to reckon with. In the future, they will certainly be more and more used, notably in the framework of a computational microscope meant to observe how the laws of physics govern the biomolecular systems originating our sense of smell.

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