SensNews November 2018

21 Sensor100 November 2018 Technology to detect disease in human breath could be coming to your smartphone Dr. Noushin Nasiri, a material engineer at the University of Technology Sydney, is trying to develop what would be the world’s smallest sensor for detecting disease in a person’s breath. Using nanotechnology, she’s fabricating the “science behind a dog’s nose” into a rectangular disk that one day might be able to slot into your smartphone, analyse your breath and tell you if it detects an illness. She said while other researchers were also developing breath sensors, she was not aware of any other scientist trying to build one as small. There are currently 17 diseases found to have clear biomarkers in human breath.They include diabetes, lung cancer, breast cancer, Parkinson’s disease, asthma, schizophrenia, and kidney and liver failure. High acetone levels in the breath, for example, is a biomarker of diabetes, while for lung cancer, researchers know of 16 biomarkers. Dr Nasiri believes she is about three years away from the base product hitting the market. “At this stage we’re aiming to be able to detect four to eight diseases, it’s quite tough,” she said. “The whole fabrication is quite similar, so once you make [a sensor] for one of them, the only thing that is different is the science behind the nanolayer on the sensor.” Her goal is to eventually develop a sensor that will detect up to 10 diseases in one breath, with the results delivered via an app on your phone. Reported by: ABC News Australia J ul 31 2017 Electrodes on the breathalyser are con- nected to a chemical material patch that will react to the biomarker being tested. ABC Radio Sydney:Amanda Hoh