UK university uses graphene to develop lung cancer detection device

The new device possesses the potential to detect specific lung cancer markers at the earliest stage possible.

In what may seem to a pathbreaking revolutionary finding in global healthcare, scientists at the University of Exeter, UK, have reportedly developed a graphene-based biosensor. If sources are to be believed, the biosensor may be capable of sniffing out any evidence of lung cancer merely from the persons breath, thereby paving the way ahead to develop cost-effective, early diagnosis systems.

The new technique, brainstormed by researchers at Exeter, has been touted to generate a highly sensitive graphene biosensor equipped with the capability to identify molecules of the most common lung cancer biomarkers. As reported by Times Now, the new biosensor design is likely to revolutionize the currently existing e-nose devices, which identify specific components of a specific vapor mixture – say for instance, a patient’s breath, and analyze its chemical makeup for cause detection.

Sources familiar with the knowledge of the matter claim that the low-cost device depicts ample potential to identify particular lung cancer markers at the earliest stage plausible. Apart from being cost-efficient, the device has also been speculated to prove highly advantageous for medical service providers worldwide.

Ben Hogan, postgraduate researcher, University of Exeter, has been reported to state that the newly developed biosensors provides substantial testimony to prove that graphene is equipped with enough potential to be deployed as an electrode for e-nose devices. This is the first time when the university has depicted that with the appropriate patterning, graphene can be effectively used as a selective, sensitive detector for biomarkers, elaborated Hogan.

The research team claims that using multi-layered graphene, the existing e-nose devices that basically combine electronic sensors along with mechanisms for recognizing patterns such as neural networks, will be capable of transforming breath diagnostic techniques. This could essentially be the debut step forward to creating novel, enhanced, and low-cost e-nose devices that may most plausibly provide the earliest lung-cancer diagnosis.