MIT engineers have developed PlasmoSniff, a portable chip-scale breath sensor that can detect pneumonia and other diseases within minutes. The system works by having patients inhale nanoparticles tagged with synthetic biomarkers; if disease-related enzymes are present, they cleave the biomarkers, which are then exhaled and detected. The sensor uses plasmonic resonance and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to trap and amplify the signal of these biomarkers at concentrations as low as 10 parts per billion — without requiring bulky lab equipment. The team plans to integrate the sensor into a handheld device paired with a breath-collection mask. Beyond pneumonia, the platform can potentially detect cancers, infections, industrial chemicals, and airborne pollutants.
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