Electronic nose could soon sniff out diseases

Categorie(s) : Innovation & Society, News, Research

Published : 1 October 2022

Irig’s electronic nose, originally designed for consumer and industrial applications, is now being used in the early detection of diseases.
Here’s how it works: some diseases—especially cancer—alter the metabolic production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), some of which are relevant biomarkers.
In this research, which focused on two oeso-gastric cancer biomarkers, record detection limits (around one part per billion by volume) were reported.
Instead of a combination of peptides that self-assemble in a monolayer, here the sensitive element is a 3D nanostructure with a perfectly controlled morphology, obtained from a single peptide in solution.
The electronic nose is not a medical device, but it could be used in screening.

Contact: yanxia.hou-broutin@cea.fr

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