Cosmos article: ‘Combing your breath’: next step in medical diagnostics is closer

This article was written by Imma Perfetto, Science Journalist at Cosmos Magazine. Read the full article here.

Imagine standing in your kitchen at home, feeling a little off colour. You grab a handheld device from the medicine cabinet and breathe into it, looking for an instant diagnosis of whatever you’re coming down with.

Such a machine is being developed right now, using technology called optical frequency combs. Or just combs.

“You could imagine it in your phone,” suggests Dr Sarah Scholten, a researcher at the University of Adelaide’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing in Australia.

“Maybe you’re having a phone call, or you’re scrolling through TikTok, you’re breathing on it, and it says, ‘hey, you’ve got the markers for the flu, you should go to the doctor.’”

Perhaps the device could be used by a doctor to track their patient’s health in remote areas that do not have access to state-of-the-art facilities, or without the need for invasive procedures.

In time-sensitive situations, it could reveal the identity of an infectious disease so it could be treated immediately, or whether a sportsperson has dabbled in doping.

Scholten and her colleagues are working to make these dreams a medical reality.

Read the full story here.