A smartphone will be able to recognize diseases by breathing. How it will work

How will gadgets recognize diseases by smell?

We tell you together with experts.

No one can be surprised by a smart gadget that helps you monitor your health anymore. Now scientists are working on teaching the technology to recognize diseases by smell. Similar to how specially trained dogs do it. Not everyone has the opportunity to get a four-legged companion. But almost everyone has a smartphone that could one day save its owner’s life.

medical expert, head of the Healthmonitor project

Analysis of volatile organic compounds allows to assess biochemical processes in the human body.

doctor of clinical laboratory diagnostics, clinical microbiologist

With every disease, there are changes in metabolic processes. And, as a consequence, the release of gases changes, which theoretically can be equated to an odor. The normal sense of smell can not distinguish it, but, for example, a high-precision chromatograph or mass spectrometer can.

The first instrument is used to determine the quantity of gases. It separates them and “shines” by the type of glow, makes a “conclusion” about the concentration of these gases in the sample under study (air or liquid). The second device determines the mass of molecules, compares it with a special base and determines what kind of substance it is and in what quantity.

What do scientists say?

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are already working on such a device and plan to implement it in a smartphone. The idea is to replicate dogs’ ability to detect different odors in a more accessible way. For example, dogs can sense the “smell” of oncology and Parkinson’s disease.

The basic mechanisms of olfaction are clear: there are special receptors in the nasal cavity that make contact with aromatic molecules and transmit signals to the brain. But the technique is much more complicated, as scientists do not yet know exactly why different molecules smell in a certain way. Nevertheless, the development of the “nano-nose” is already underway – they train it in the same way as they train search dogs. That is, they teach it to memorize a particular odor and then distinguish it from others.

When will such a device appear?

According to the authors of the work, the technology will be available in the next five years. Although there are already similar developments that are able to determine some diseases. For example, Russian scientists have learned to measure the amount, concentration and ratio of gases in the exhalation. With the help of this it is possible to draw conclusions about the presence of viral and other diseases. The device, for example, can diagnose diabetes, bronchial asthma, COVID-19, and pneumonia.

Maxim: Exhalation of any person consists of three components: inorganic compounds, condensate of exhaled air and volatile organic compounds, which actually “travel” throughout the circulatory system. The analysis of the latter makes it possible to assess biochemical processes in the body. This principle is the basis for the joint development of our company and scientists from the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences – a high-tech gas analyzer Healthmonitor. Its work is based on spectral analysis, and we also use artificial intelligence technologies.

Maxim: Last year, we created a sports version of the gas analyzer, which helps build the training process, assesses the current level of physical fitness and fatigue of the athlete. In the sports industry, the main device by which a client can assess training is a heart rate monitor built into a treadmill. But biologically speaking, a high heart rate is no guarantee of an effective workout. In our case, the analysis of the training process is based on the measurement of more than 30 exhaled gases simultaneously. One test lasts about 2-3 minutes. And all results are displayed in the mobile app.