STAT Plus: A test you can breathe in: Scientists are developing synthetic biosensors to monitor lung disease
Imagine inhaling a sensor that could monitor lung disease patients’ response to therapy, emitting a signal when they breathe out. Like a breathalyzer that recognizes alcohol, such a device could sniff out compounds released only by specific illnesses to gauge how well treatment is working.
Biomedical engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a synthetic biosensor using specialized nanoparticles to detect and then report the presence of molecules indicating bacterial pneumonia or the genetic disease alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
