Research

PHOENIX in a nutshell

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infections of the lower respiratory tract, including both influenza and pneumonia, are among the primary causes of death. Moreover, the recent pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 (provoking even severe respiratory infections like pneumonia) is pushing the scientific research toward the development of quick, non-invasive tests to detect diseases at an early stage.

Different Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are reported to be biomarkers of specific human diseases, among which also pulmonary ones. However, once recognized the main VOCs, the important step forward is the engineering of hand-held and low-cost gas sensors to be used as Point-Of-Care (POC) devices to help the early diagnostics and even to monitor the disease progression or response to conventional or investigational drugs to assist patients with a timely selection of treatments.

The principal objectives of this project are both the development of active materials and the possible engineering of a device able to detect at room temperature, quickly and selectively the VOCs pneumonia biomarkers of either viral or bacterial etiology. The project will focus on i) the preparation of innovative 3D nanoarchitectures, ii) the development of chemiresistors, and iii) their implementation in hand-held prototypes.

ASTUTE aim

The project proposes to measure the stomach emptying time following the release of an active food-grade substance from a biocapsule, leveraging its possible pH-controlled release and subsequent oxidation only in the stomach. This volatile substance is, then, detected and timely monitored in the expired breath by a user friendly and portable sensor.