Home / Health / Cancer-Sniffing E-Nose Gets £100k Boost
Cancer-Sniffing E-Nose Gets £100k Boost
28 Oct
Summary
- An electronic nose inspired by dogs' scent detection is being developed.
- A £100,000 donation will accelerate the creation of the cancer-detecting device.
- The technology uses AI to identify disease odours from urine samples.
A significant £100,000 donation from perfume entrepreneur Jo Malone is set to accelerate the development of a cancer-detecting electronic nose. Medical Detection Dogs (MDD) in Milton Keynes has been collaborating with physicist Dr Andreas Mershin for over a decade on the SniffSpace device, which mimics a dog's superior scent detection capabilities.
This game-changing funding will enable MDD to install a SniffSpace unit, allowing for increased sample analysis by trained dogs to generate more robust data. The technology captures scent molecules from samples, such as urine, and uses artificial intelligence to identify patterns indicative of diseases like prostate cancer.
Queen Camilla was previously shown a prototype successfully detecting prostate cancer from a urine sample, a demonstration that reportedly influenced the donation. MDD aims to scale this technology globally, creating an electronic nose that can replicate the scent detection abilities of dogs, which possess 300 million sensory receptors compared to humans' five million. The charity is also exploring partnerships for the development of diagnostic medical devices for the NHS.
