If successful, this technology could become a breakthrough tool to help people detect pollution and cancer early, opening an era where machines can "smell" like humans.

In European laboratories, scientists are quietly developing the “nose of the future” – a device that can detect mixtures of molecules, airborne toxins and even signs of disease in the human body. Their goal is to provide early warning of any health risks and help people respond in time.

Contrary to popular belief, the electronic nose does not look like a nose at all. The prototype presented by Jérôme Schruyers, an industrial engineer at the University of Mons (UMONS, Belgium), is just a small box filled with components and gas sensors. “These sensors have to be trained. They need to learn to recognize odors like a child learns to distinguish flavors,” he said.

In the lab, Schruyers subjected the device to a variety of smells: freshly roasted coffee, strong-smelling cheese, and salmon. Curves appeared on the screen, indicating the sensor’s precise response. The results offered potential applications in the food industry, but what interested him more was its ability to detect airborne pollutants that silently threaten human health.

Some time later, in a hotel near the train station, Mr. Schruyers and his colleagues conducted a field test. They sprayed perfume, nail polish, and deodorant in the bathroom and observed the sensor's response. Within seconds, a red light flashed on the screen, indicating that the deodorant gas had been detected.

Jérôme’s goal is to create a nose sensitive enough to detect not only odors and gases, but also allergens and mold. “This technology can be applied anywhere, hotels, offices, hospitals, schools, homes, where there are sources of pollution,” he said. The ambition is not just to detect, but also to fix, such as automatically adjusting ventilation in a building based on precise sensor data.

However, scientists want to go further so that electronic noses can detect signs of cancer. This is the goal of the international project Alcove, funded by the European Interreg fund, bringing together scientists and doctors from Belgium and France. They hope to develop a breakthrough device capable of screening diseases in the next few years, based on electronic nose technology with super-sensitive sensors.

The device is still in the patent application stage, so the team has only revealed a few details: a breathing mask, air tubes, an electronic box connected to a computer, and ultra-sensitive sensors, a field in which scientists at the University of Mons are very knowledgeable.

At the University of Mons and its Materia Nova innovation center, Dr. Driss Lahem said they have been working on sensors for 20 years. “UMONS makes the active materials, and Materia Nova coats them in thin layers to create microsensors. We test them by reacting them with gases and volatile organic compounds,” he said.

According to Anne-Claude Romain, University of Liège (Belgium), the device's operating mechanism is quite simple: the patient breathes into a mask, the breath is collected, passed through the system and analyzed. She said: "Human breath contains about 200 different compounds. Based on their ratio and concentration, it is possible to detect signs of pathology, including lung cancer."

Although still in its early stages, the Alcove project offers great hope. In fact, only 18% of lung cancer patients survive five years if detected late, while this rate can reach 90% if the disease is detected early, at a stage when surgery is still possible. The research team hopes to create a compact, precise electronic nose that can be deployed in clinics for early cancer screening.

This idea is highly appreciated by the medical community. Dr. Stéphane Holbrechts, Head of the Oncology Department at CHU Helora, said that currently, lung cancer screening can only be done by chest CT scan, an effective but invasive and expensive method. The electronic nose will make screening more accessible, faster, less expensive and more acceptable to the public. Doctors want to detect the disease when patients still have a chance to be cured.

The medical field is not the only one with high hopes for the technology, but it also has a wide range of applications. According to Professor Marc Deblicquy (UMONS), these “nose” have been used in the food industry to distinguish between coffee types, check roast quality, detect olive oil fraud and identify spoiled food. At UMONS, the research team is testing the ability to detect harmful mold on rice, which could help protect crops in Asia.

Belgian customs is also in the race. A project is being developed to create an electronic nose that can detect drugs in containers at the port of Antwerp. Although the device is not yet operational, the project has won the 2023 Federal Innovation Award.

From detecting indoor pollution, ensuring food safety, to cancer screening and combating smuggling, electronic noses are opening up a new direction for science and medicine. One day soon, people may live in a world where technology can not only see and hear, but also “smell”, detecting dangers, protecting health and the environment from the first breath.

According to baotintuc.vn

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/kinh-te/khoa-hoc-cong-nghe/mui-dien-tu-cong-nghe-hua-hen-phat-hien-o-nhiem-va-benh-tat-159267.html