A pioneering electronic nose inspired by medical detection dogs has begun trials in the UK to sniff out prostate cancer from urine samples. Developed over nearly a decade by US quantum physicist Dr Andreas Mershin, the device analyses odours much like trained canines, marking a leap from small scale tests to evaluating more than 500 patient samples at Milton Keynes University Hospital.
The E nose, created during collaboration with Medical Detection Dogs (MDD) and chemists at the University of Texas at El Paso, learns through rewards just as dogs do during training. Previously screened by MDD dogs which achieved 74 per cent specificity and 71 per cent sensitivity for aggressive prostate cancer, these urine samples will now benchmark the machine’s performance directly against the animals. Dogs excelled where PSA blood tests often falter, spotting cancer amid other prostate issues.
“This is a major milestone,” said Dr Mershin, an MIT research scientist. “We’ve worked to emulate the dogs’ abilities and train machines in a similar way. Phones already have eyes and ears, but machine olfactors are the next frontier in health technology and AI sensing. This could transform diagnosis, screening and early detection.”
When Claire Guest, CEO of MDD, trained the first cancer detection dog 15 years ago, the goal was scalable technology, not dogs in every hospital. This trial brings that dream closer.
The approach draws from global efforts validating dogs’ olfactory prowess. In France, Institut Curie’s KDOG project trained dogs on sweat samples from 181 women, achieving 80 per cent detection of breast cancer by at least one dog in complex scenarios mimicking real world screening. Though accuracy dipped to 49 per cent when both dogs agreed, the study pinpointed detectable volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in perspiration, paving the way for electronic noses.
Published in Nature Communications, KDOG1 highlights a molecular signature dogs’ sense, which researchers now aim to replicate mechanically. Nurse researcher Dr Isabelle Fromentin noted this could yield precise electronic detectors as mammography complements, especially where participation lags at under 50 per cent in France.
Prostate cancer claims thousands of lives each year but is only diagnosed via imperfect PSA tests. Routine screening is only offered in the UK to a small group of high risk men due to its unreliability. Now, if successful, the E nose could enable low cost, non-invasive screening anywhere. Further trials could expand possibilities for breast, lung and other cancers, blending biology with AI for faster diagnoses. As Dr Mershin puts it, giving machines a nose redefines health tech frontiers.