What is our goal?

Low-cost electronic devices (noses and electronic tongues) include non-specific gas and liquid sensors. As an example, noses have the ability to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are part of an odorous sample, thus being able to recognize or discriminate it within a group of odorous substances. VOCs are compounds that contain carbon and other chemical elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, sulfur, etc. and that at room temperature they are gaseous. The patterns of generated volatile organic compounds and liquids allow its identification in a fast way.

These devices (nose and electronic tongue) have a great transversality and applications in many technological fields (food, drug and explosives detection, and medicine, among others).

The device that we propose has been used mainly in the food and phytosanitary sector (differentiation of qualities of olive oil, detection of components in animal feed, detection of disease states of tanning of the palm tree, among others). Lately, the research team is trying to adapt the same technology with the intention of being able to detect a type of cancer (prostate cancer) through urine. We believe that if these adaptations are successful, in the future we could work to apply this technology to the detection of other diseases, such as COVID-19.

In its application to the identification of types of olive oil, the device obtained very good precision. The advantage of this device over conventional electronic noses and tongues is its low price.

The greatest difficulty that the proposed technology can entail is the device's "training" period. The measurements obtained by the device must be calibrated with more precise analytics, that is, the pattern (electrical signal) obtained with the proposed device must be related to precise analyzes of the objective indicators. Subsequently, a statistical analysis must be performed, using the analysis of the "discrete Fourier transform" of the responses of the sensors. This last procedure can be automated and reduce execution time with a calculation algorithm.

The main objective of the project is to create a robust, functional and reliable device that can be marketed at an economical price, so that its acquisition is “democratized”.

Within the area where we want to focus, the rapid detection of liquids and gases related to diseases stands out. From the experience previously acquired in the food and phytosanitary sector, attempts are being made to adapt this technology to the medical field.

The development of medical applications that can favor the detection of diseases through the analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) is of great interest to us. In this regard, there are various investigations throughout the planet that address the impact of the analysis of these compounds in the detection of diseases. Analogous examples are found in research carried out by members of the University of Manchester, motivated by the warning given by a woman considered "super odor", who realized that Parkinson's patients had a characteristic odor of their own, and that it has led them to study the volatile biomarkers of these patients.