Electronic Nose Aims to Sniff Out Diseases

[Guest guest]

Electronic Nose Aims to Sniff Out Diseases

Corey Binns

Special to LiveScience

LiveScience.com Mon Feb 20, 4:00 PM ET

Scientists are developing a super-sensitive Breathalyzer-type tool that works a

lot like a nose and could one day sniff out human ills.

Rather than detecting blood-alcohol levels—or garlic and onions—the device would

identify diseases by sensing chemical patterns carried in the breath.

Researchers have linked some of these patterns, known as biomarkers, to diseases

as diverse as diabetes,

AIDS, and schizophrenia.

Previous disease-smelling systems have been big and difficult to use and had

limited capability.

" We're making a small, inexpensive, and robust device to assess the same things,

anywhere. It could work in the field, at the mall, in the parking lot, and at

home, " said Bright, a chemist from the University at Buffalo.

How it works

While it's not clear whether the devices would be needed in parking lots, the

technology is remarkable.

The electronic olfactory system, which looks nothing like a nose, will be made

up of sensors similar to receptors in our nasal passages. These sensors will be

triggered by molecules floating in the air. When a patient breathes into the

device, different molecules will trigger a different set of sensors to light up.

Bright and his research team can train the device, which is made of artificial

neurons mimicking a brain, to connect the pattern of lights with particular

diseases.

Scientists will start the training by comparing samples of patients already

diagnosed with cancer. They'll search for similar patterns in the patients'

breath, so that in the future, when the device sees those patterns, it

recognizes cancer.

The training will also involve teaching the machine to ignore everyday smells

like Listerine, cheeseburgers and breath mints.

More sensitive

Other disease sniffers have had only about 30 sensors. So far, Bright's team has

engineered about a 100 different sensors, which match up to all kinds of

molecules. Their goal is to produce a million.

" The ability to create a library with more than a million different sensors is

pretty remarkable, " Bright told LiveScience.

He said prototypes should be available about a year from now.

The device's portability, speed and cheap price tag should help doctors diagnose

diseases early. It could particularly improve the health of the elderly and

impoverished, people who often don't have access to routine health care, Bright

said. As well, doctors could use it to filter out possible diagnoses and cut

down on costly medical tests.

" We're really thinking about early intervention, " said Bright.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060220/sc_space/electronicnoseaimstosniffoutdise\

ases;_ylt=Atyenv2KqPMwOIVfHL7GV26s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-