25-09 - Flipbook - Page 138
Mi n i str i es
Kimball, for one, is working with colleagues to develop a test for diagnosing
brain injuries in children who play contact sports, based on changes to the
VOCs emitted by their bodies.
In 2016, they published a study revealing
that traumatic brain injuries in mice
cause a distinct smell and that it is possible to train other mice to sniff it out. In
new, soon to be published work, Kimball
observed specific ketones in human
urine in the first several hours following
concussion. The reason why the odorants are released following such injuries is
unclear, but one theory is that the brain
releases VOCs as a by-product while trying to repair itself.
"The class of the ketones that we see
suggest that it has something to do with
trying to get more energy to the brain to maybe combat the injury, or at least support recovery," says Kimball.
There's good reason to think so. Studies have shown that ketones can serve as alternative
energy sources following brain injury and are thought to provide neuroprotective qualities.
Body odour could also reveal that someone has malaria. In 2018, scientists discovered that
children infected with malaria give off a distinct smell through their skin, which makes them
especially attractive to mosquitoes. By studying samples from 56 children in western Kenya,
the team identified a "fruity and grassy" smell that appeared irresistible to the flying, biting
insects. Further analysis of these samples unearthed the presence of chemicals called aldehydes 3 specifically heptanal, octanal and nonanal 3 that were responsible for the unique
odour. The research could be used to develop a new test for malaria. For now, the scientists hope to replicate the scent and use it as a lure to trap mosquitoes, drawing them away
from communities and villages.
And Mershin, a former researcher scientist at MIT now working at RealNose.ai, says he and
his team hope to develop an odour-detecting device that can identify prostate cancer, a
disease that one in 44 men will die of.
"The company sprung out of about 19 years' worth of research I did at MIT, where Darpa
[the Defence Advanced Research Project Agency] asked me to beat the dog's nose at
the limit of detection," says Mershin. "We were basically asked to make bio-cyborgs."
The device currently being developed by RealNose.ai incorporates real human olfactory
receptors 3 grown by stem cells in the lab 3 which are fine-tuned to allow them to detect
the plethora of odorant molecules associated with prostate cancer. Machine learning, a
form of artificial intelligence, then searches for patterns in the activation of the receptors.
