Description
Detection of Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) in exhaled breath is emerging as a non-invasive method for the timely diagnosis of diseases. The EU-funded project CanSENS aims to develop a non-invasive breath analysis sensor platform for the early detection of colon cancer, using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The project’s objectives include the fabrication of a prototype SERS sensor platform using novel nanomaterials, the development of a numerical chemometric model to identify VOCs of colon cancer, and clinical validation using breath samples of cancer patients and healthy individuals. SERS-based chemometric analysis of the patients’ breath samples will provide a further understanding of the complex relationship between the VOC profile and colon cancer occurrence. This interdisciplinary project includes aspects of engineering, chemistry, and clinical diagnosis. This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreements No. 101024362 (€145,941.12; September 2021 – September 2024).
Objectives
The CanSENS project has developed a cost-effective and ultra-sensitive breath analysis device for the potential detection of diseases, based on SERS. The nano-sensor was developed using fully-solution processed techniques that led to high signal reliability and reproducibility. The sensor performance was tested using a model analyte in liquid and gas phases, at very low concentrations. For breath-based diagnostics, a proof-of-concept experiment was performed for the successful detection of SARS-CoV-2 via exhaled breath condensates. As a next step, the novel sensor will be used for the diagnosis of colon cancer via patients’ exhaled breath samples versus healthy individuals.
So far, CanSENS has produced the following publications:
- Constantinou, M. et al., 2024. Advancing Breath‐Based Diagnostics: 3D Mesh SERS Sensor Via Dielectrophoretic Alignment of Solution‐Processed Au Nanoparticle‐Decorated TiO2 Nanowires. Advanced Sensor Research, p.2300161.
- Constantinou, M. et al., 2024, March. Nanowire mesh sensor for SERS breath analysis. In Frontiers in Biological Detection: From Nanosensors to Systems XVI (Vol. 12861, pp. 8-15). SPIE.
- Constantinou, et al., 2022. Label-free sensing with metal nanostructure-based surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for cancer diagnosis. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 5(9), pp.12276-12299.
Bio
Dr. Marios Constantinou obtained a Higher National Diploma in Electrical Engineering (Higher Technical Institute, Cyprus, 2009), a MEng (Hons) in Electronic Engineering (University of Surrey, UK, 2013), and a PhD in Electronic Engineering in the field of Nanoelectronics (Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, UK, 2017), conducting research in printed and flexible electronics. From 2016 to 2021, he worked as a Hardware Test Design Engineer at McLaren Applied, specializing in cutting-edge technologies for the demanding and fast-paced Formula 1 racing series. Dr. Constantinou is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow at the University of Cyprus, funded under Horizon 2020. Dr. Constantinou, is professionally registered as a Chartered Engineer (CEng) with the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET, UK).
Dr. Chrysafis Andreou was elected to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Cyprus in 2018. He is the head of the Imaging and Detection Nanotechnology Laboratory. He holds two degrees (in physics and mathematics) from Pennsylvania State University (2006), a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cyprus (2008), and a PhD in Biomolecular Science and Engineering from California State University in Santa Barbara (2013). He has developed microfluidic systems for chemical analysis, based on enhanced Raman scattering, with applications to chemical analysis of biofluids and gas streams. He is experienced in the synthesis of metal nanoparticles, collection and analysis of biospecimens, and data processing by chemometric methods, as well as in the numerical simulation of chemical transport and reaction phenomena. He has also worked as a researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, USA), where he developed a new method of medical optical spectral imaging with molecularly targeted nanoparticles, for the imaging and characterization of cancerous tumors (2014-2018).
Funding Programme: Horizon 2020
Research Project Budget: €145.941,12
