A new electronic nose designed to detect prostate cancer, based on the scent-detection skills of trained medical dogs, is being trialled in the UK for the first time. The device will analyse more than 500 urine samples that have already been screened by dogs trained by Medical Detection Dogs (MDD), allowing researchers to directly compare its accuracy with that of the animals.
The E-nose, created by US-based quantum physicist Dr Andreas Mershin, aims to replicate the dogs’ ability to identify cancer through smell. Mershin has spent almost a decade collaborating with MDD as an MIT P.I. Research Scientist to build a machine capable of learning in a similar way to a detection dog.
Until now, the devices have only been tested on small batches of samples. This UK trial marks the first use of the technology on a large number of samples donated by consented patients at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Dogs previously screened samples for aggressive prostate cancer with a specificity of 74% and sensitivity of 71%, as published in PLOS One. Notably, they were also able to detect cancer in patients who had other prostate conditions, an area where current PSA blood tests often struggle.
“This is a major milestone,” Mershin said. “We’ve worked to emulate the dogs’ abilities and train machines in a similar way – rewarding them for correct identifications. It’s like giving our devices a new sense: a nose. Phones already have eyes and ears, but machine olfactors are the next frontier in health technology and AI sensing. This could transform the world of diagnosis, screening and early detection.”
The development of the E-nose involves collaboration between Dr Mershin, MDD and a chemistry team at the University of Texas at El Paso, who used data from the dogs to help shape the device.
Claire Guest, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer at Medical Detection Dogs, said, “When I trained our first cancer detection dog over 15 years ago, the goal was always to inform scalable technology – not to have a dog in every hospital. Seeing that vision start to come to life with this E-nose is an incredibly proud moment.”
