Breaking News
Finnish expertise helps detect stomach cancer
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has collaborated with eight organisations to develop a prototype of the SniffPhone, a small sensory device that can detect stomach cancer in a person’s exhaled breath.
The potentially revolutionary device measures volatile organic compounds in the person’s breath with chemical nanosensors. The findings are then sent to a medical cloud platform with a smartphone to enable professionals to access and analyse the sample.
SniffPhone changes the stomach cancer screening process by making it more simple and painless for the client and providing a fast and cost-effective tool for medical personnel. The prototype has been clinically tested, and the developers will now start looking for investors to help to commercialise it through a spin-off company.
VTT’s role in the project has been quite comprehensive, ranging from the more technical analytics and data-transfer aspects to the more human-centred tasks of engaging end-users, coming up with tools to help to use the device and analysing the findings.
The other project partners are Israel Institute of Technology, NanoVation (Israel), Cellix Ltd (Ireland), microfluidic ChipShop (Germany), University of Latvia, University of Innsbruck (Austria), Siemens (Germany) and JLM Innovation GmbH (Germany).