Breathalyzer based on frequency comb spectroscopy quantum tech shows promise as a non-invasive diagnostic test for an array of diseases 

每一次呼吸, 人类呼气超过1,000个不同的分子, producing a unique chemical “breathprint” rich with clues about what’s happening inside the body. 

几十年来,, 科学家们试图利用这些信息, 甚至求助于狗来嗅出癌症, 糖尿病, 结核病和其他疾病. 

现在, scientists have developed a new laser-based “nose” powered by quantum technology and artificial intelligence (AI) that could someday diagnose an array of diseases swiftly and cheaply. 

已经, 研究显示, the high-tech breathalyzer can detect COVID-19 in minutes with excellent accuracy. 

“有一个真正的, foreseeable future in which you could go to the doctor and have your breath measured along with your height and weight . . . or you could blow into a mouthpiece integrated into your phone and get information about your health in real-time,资深作者叶军说, a JILA 博彩平台推荐物理学研究员兼兼职教授. 

早在2008年, Ye’s lab reported that a technique called frequency comb spectroscopy—essentially using laser light to distinguish one molecule from another—could potentially identify biomarkers of disease in human breath. 

Ye’s team has since improved the sensitivity more than a thousandfold, enabling detection of trace molecules at the parts-per-trillion level. They’ve also increased the number of colors the laser emits, 使他们能够检测到更多种类的分子. 他们利用了人工智能的力量. 

“Molecules increase or decrease in concentrations when associated with specific health conditions,第一作者梁启忠说, JILA和物理系博士研究生. 机器学习分析这些信息, identifies patterns and develops criteria we can use to predict a diagnosis.” 

Mid-pandemic Liang and Ye collaborated with scientists at the BioFrontiers研究所, 是谁领导了校园COVID-19检测项目, to see how well the system did in detecting the virus. 

2021年5月至2022年1月, the team collected breath samples from 170 CU Boulder students who had, 在过去的48小时内, taken a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test by submitting a saliva or a nasal sample. 一半的检测结果呈阳性，一半呈阴性. The breathalyzer process took less than one hour from collection to result. 

When compared to PCR, the gold standard test, breathalyzer results matched 85% of the time. For medical diagnostics, accuracy of 80% or greater is considered “excellent.” The future health applications are huge, the authors said. 

“What if you could find a signature in breath that could detect pancreatic cancer before you were even symptomatic? 这就是本垒打,合作者Leslie Leinwand说, chief scientific officer for the BioFrontiers研究所. 

与其他诊断测试不同, the breathalyzer is non-invasive and doesn’t require costly chemicals to break down the sample. But there is still much to learn before it can be commercialized. 

今天, the system consists of a complex array of lasers and mirrors about the size of a banquet table. 

A breath sample is piped in through a tube as lasers fire invisible mid-infrared light at it at thousands of different frequencies. Dozens of tiny mirrors bounce the light back and forth through the molecules. 

Because each kind of molecule absorbs light differently, breath samples with a different molecular makeup cast distinct shadows. The machine can distinguish between those different shadows, boiling millions of data points down to a simple positive or negative in seconds. 

目前正在努力使这种系统小型化, 允许“实时”, 随时随地的自我健康监测.” And the team plans to soon collaborate with colleagues at the Anschutz Medical Campus to see if their system can detect other diseases. 

“如果你想想狗, they evolved over thousands of years to smell many different things with remarkable sensitivity,叶说。. “The more we teach our laser-based nose, the smarter it will become.”

摄影:Qizhong Liang, JILA和物理系博士研究生, 演示了激光酒精测试仪的工作原理, 在JILA的Ye实验室. 图片来源:Patrick Campbell/科罗拉多大学.