News & Analysis
Electronic nose sniffs out medical conditions
R Colin Johnson
10/5/2010 11:28 PM EDT
PORTLAND, Ore.–Electronic nose sensors can not only detect disease but can also diagnose its progress, according to Stony Brook University researchers. Nanowire-arrays of ultrasensitive sensors offer improved gas sensitivity, faster response and lower level detection than conventional approaches, promising to eliminate the need for blood tests in favor of breath-based diagnoses, the researchers say.
Led by Professor Perena Gouma, director of the Center for Nanomaterials and Sensor Development at Stony Brook, the super-sensitive sensors are currently entering the clinical trial stage. In the trials, diabetes patients will use the electronic nose to detect the levels of acetone in their breath, which the researchers say are elevated in direct proportion to how much the disease has depressed blood sugar levels, thus eliminating the need for taking a blood sample.
According to Gouma, many diseases could be more easily detected and controlled by using an electronic nose tuned to the specific chemical markers found only in the breath of patients suffering from that malady. For instance, for asthma, a nitric oxide sensor would allow an electronic nose to track that condition. Even serious diseases like lung cancer, which is hard to detect in early stages, can be sensed by an electronic nose, according to Gouma.
Funding for the Stony Brook project was provided by the National Science Foundation for pre-clinical trials of the diabetes sensor.
Led by Professor Perena Gouma, director of the Center for Nanomaterials and Sensor Development at Stony Brook, the super-sensitive sensors are currently entering the clinical trial stage. In the trials, diabetes patients will use the electronic nose to detect the levels of acetone in their breath, which the researchers say are elevated in direct proportion to how much the disease has depressed blood sugar levels, thus eliminating the need for taking a blood sample.
According to Gouma, many diseases could be more easily detected and controlled by using an electronic nose tuned to the specific chemical markers found only in the breath of patients suffering from that malady. For instance, for asthma, a nitric oxide sensor would allow an electronic nose to track that condition. Even serious diseases like lung cancer, which is hard to detect in early stages, can be sensed by an electronic nose, according to Gouma.
Electronic nose sniffs out chemical markers for disease with sensors crafted by electrospinning nanofiber and nanowire structures.
Funding for the Stony Brook project was provided by the National Science Foundation for pre-clinical trials of the diabetes sensor.
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Sheetal.Pandey
10/5/2010 11:57 PM EDT
Sounds very interesting. How much would it cost? What is the time to market?
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t.alex
10/6/2010 7:18 AM EDT
'Electronic nose' itself is very interesting concept. Basically different kinds of smells should be detected. And How close is it to human nose?
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yalanand
10/6/2010 7:25 AM EDT
Wow this is really very innovative approach indeed. This will help many patients to get cured in the early stage of disease and thus help survival rates.
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yalanand
10/6/2010 7:27 AM EDT
If disease detection become so simple a day will come when you will run set of checks on your body (like running Quality check on your deliverables to customer) every week and no disease can escape you.I think that day is not so far.
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hm
10/7/2010 2:55 AM EDT
This is very interesting concept and has promising future. However, along with pre clinical trials, field trials are also crucial in success of this type of product. For their success, it has to be as reliable as conventional methods and should not give too many false positive and false negative results.
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Arpit BME
10/20/2010 4:38 AM EDT
This is a intresting concept, But I dont understand with literature it is a complete hardware working with human system (i.e. implantable) externally working hub? Do it involves artifical NN algorithm for discriminating between different fragrance or it will use human Neural Networks
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