Background

Human breath provides clues into the physiological status of the body. Volatile organic compounds in the exhaled breath are indicators of body metabolism and have been correlated to different pulmonary and non-pulmonary diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Viral particles found in the exhaled breath aid in the rapid and point-of-care diagnosis of respiratory viral diseases. Timely diagnosis significantly reduces hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality as observed in the recent COVID-19 pandemic. However, current diagnostic procedures are often time-consuming, expensive, labor-intensive, and invasive. Moreover, diagnosis in patients with atypical clinical representation may remain elusive. Hence, analysis of exhaled breath offers an inexpensive, immediate, and non-invasive method for diagnosis of a wide range of diseases.

Technology Overview

Northeastern spinout, iScent Diagnostics, has developed a breathalyzer platform for detection of volatile organic compounds as well as viral particles in a wide range of diseases. This platform is an ultra-compact electrochemical gas sensor, which comprises a layer of molecularly imprinted polymer in electrical communication with layers of metals. The molecularly imprinted polymer has functionalization showing part per quintillion (10^-18) sensitivity, fast sensor response and recovery in 1~2 seconds, and ultra-high specificity. Molecular imprinting allows a thin layer of polymer to be electrochemically formed around the template molecules of interest. The template molecules are then removed after polymerization. As such, it leaves an imprint of the exact size and shape of the template molecule in the polymer matrix. This results in a lock (sensor cavity) and key (template molecule) relationship of extremely high specificity. In addition, the strong chemical bonding between the template molecules and the electrochemically plated polymer layer leads to further enhanced sensitivity and specificity. The proof of concept of this platform has been developed for COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s disease. This diagnostic is comparable with the RT-PCR technique in terms of specificity and sensitivity with an extra advantage of giving the result in a significantly shorter time compared to RT-PCR (seconds vs. minutes).

Benefits

Rapid Point-of-care disease diagnosis (giving results within seconds)
Consistent and reproducible result
High Selectivity
Cost-efficient
Non-invasive

Applications

Respiratory disease diagnosis
Neurodegenerative disease diagnosis

Opportunity

Building business plan
Connecting with prospective investors

Gas Sensors for Disease Diagnosis from Exhaled Breath

IP Status

Seeking