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'Chemical Nose' May Sniff Out Cancer Earlier

The glowing PPE pattern helps scientists identify the cell type, as a cancer cell has slightly different proportions of biomarkers on its surface than a healthy cell.

"You often don't get a big signal for the presence of cancer," Rotello said. "It's a subtle thing."

"Our new method uses an array of sensors to recognize not only known cancer types, but it signals that abnormal cells are present. That is, the chemical nose can simply tell us something isn't right, like a 'check engine' light, though it may never have encountered that type before," he said.

The researchers next hope to test the chemical nose on real animal tissue as opposed to cultured tissue and refine their ability to decipher the information the detection system gives them.

"We're getting complete identification now, and this can be improved by adding more and different nanoparticles. So far we've experimented with only three, and there are hundreds more we can make," Rotello said.

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Pat Elliott

Cancer Guide