Comments
Coming soon: An “electronic nose” application for smart phones which could help doctors diagnose an illness by analysing a person's breath, say scientists.
A team at the California Institute of Technology, led by chemistry professor Nate Lewis, is trialling the technology what they call “sensory vapour technology” which could detect odours like the human nose.
The aim is to manufacture a smart phone attachment that works when used in conjunction with an “electronic nose app”, the ‘Daily Mail' reported.
The scientists hope their research will result in an affordable, easy-to-carry detection system, ideally an advanced smartphone application.
Team member Heather McCaig said: “A doctor could carry around their smart phone and have patients breathe into a little attachment and be able to tell they have a communicable disease like tuberculosis. “You wouldn't need to send samples off to a lab, you would immediately be able to start treatment. This would have a huge impact on people's lives.”
The detection system works by pushing a stream of air through a liquid, such as butanol, which results in bubbles that come up as a saturated vapour. This is then diluted and fed to a sensor chamber where the vapour is analysed and turned into raw data, say the scientists.
From this data, the scientists are able to work out the chemicals contained in the initial stream of “air”.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.