Jo Malone donates £100K for Milton Keynes cancer-detecting ‘nose’

The prototype electronic nose is currently “sniffing” 500 urine samples provided by patients from Milton Keynes Hospital.

MDD-trained dogs previously correctly identified which of them were cancerous.

The charity said once it had that dataset, researchers could compare its results with those of the dogs.

At the moment, the charity said its dogs sniffed samples, arranged in up to eight stands, for the odours associated with disease.

However, after each row has been sniffed, trainers have to manually record the data – and swap the samples around. SniffSpace will automatically rotate the samples, meaning more can be sniffed in a shorter space of time.

MDD said this would accelerate its ultimate aim of creating an electronic nose that can do what the dogs do, but at scale across the world.

Malone said: “My sense of smell has given me so much throughout my life. So I have always wanted to find a way of using that world of smell to give something back.”

A team of dogs will now be prepared for their training on the equipment.

Mershin added: “RealNose.ai and MDD are focused on establishing a formal partnership aimed at creating in vitro diagnostic medical devices specifically for the NHS to look at as potential solutions to the prostate cancer screening and early diagnosis problems before also trying out the same olfactory approach for other cancers.”

Do you have a story suggestion for Beds, Herts or Bucks? Contact us below.