New laser-based breathalyzer sniffs out COVID, other diseases in real-time

A volunteer donates a breath sample for the study of a new laser-based breathalyzer for COVID-19.

Image Credit
NIST

With each breath, humans exhale more than 1,000 distinct molecules, producing a unique chemical fingerprint or “breathprint” rich with clues about what’s going on inside the body. For decades, scientists have sought to harness that information, turning to dogs, rats and even bees to literally sniff out cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis and more. This week, scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) made an important leap forward in the quest to diagnose disease using exhaled breath, reporting that a new laser-based breathalyzer powered by artificial intelligence (AI) can detect COVID-19 in real-time with excellent accuracy.

Read the entire article on CU Boulder Today: New laser-based breathalyzer sniffs out COVID, other diseases in real-time

Read the original published paper, Breath analysis by ultra-sensitive broadband laser spectroscopy detects SARS-CoV-2 infection