SenseIR: Keeping cardiovascular disease at bay
A professor at the University of Montpellier and researcher with the Nanomir team at the Institute of Electronics and Systems (IES), Aurore Vicet is the founder of the SenseIR project. This technology is designed to detect cardiovascular disease in exhaled air using infrared lasers. The clinical study has just begun.
A rapid, non-invasive diagnosis that can be performed on the go, at the patient's bedside... That is the ambition of the SenseIR project. The result of a collaboration between the IES, the University Hospital, the Physiology and Experimental Medicine of the Heart and Muscles Laboratory (PhyMedExp), and the Desbrest Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health (Idesp), this promising tool could soon enable the medical world to diagnose cardiovascular diseases using a device capable of detecting certain biomarkers in the air exhaled by patients.
The idea was conceived in 2020 at a meeting between Aurore Vicet, a researcher with the NanoMir team, and physiologist and pulmonologist Fares Gouzi, from the University Hospital Center (CHU). Until then, NanoMir had only been working on sensors for environmental pollutants, but after a few informal tests on detecting carbon monoxide levels in breath, the duo was excited. "We knew that infrared had great potential. We decided we had to work together. During lockdown, we responded to a call for projects Muse, and we started in October 2020 with Diba Ayache's thesis, followed by Tarek Seoudi's post-doc," recalls Aurore Vicet.
Focus
During the first few months, the small team set about identifying molecules symptomatic of certain cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure, and certain respiratory conditions. In these specific cases, patients' breath may contain excessive levels of acetone and carbon monoxide. A total of four gases were selected by Aurore Vicet and Fares Gouzi, who then worked on different lasers capable of analyzing each of the molecules to obtain the most accurate reading possible of the levels present.
A complex and necessary step. “There were a lot of optical and instrumentation adjustments. We had to develop data acquisition programs and simulations... For some molecules, the adjustment process was difficult. It requires a high degree of precision,” explains Aurore Vicet, who uses photoacoustic spectroscopy for this purpose. In short, the idea is to excite the molecules of interest via the modulated emission of infrared rays that each of them is capable of absorbing. The maneuver produces a sound that is imperceptible to the ear, but which the researchers are able to relay using a mini quartz tuning fork, like those used in watchmaking.
Clinical study
At the same time, it was necessary to recreate the fictitious conditions of air exhalation for the initial tests. "Our breath is warm, full of water and CO2, with significant variations between individuals. All these parameters add to the experimental difficulties. In vivo measurements are always more complicated than basic calibration curves on gas cylinders in a lab," the researcher points out.
Since the beginning of May, the team has been conducting a clinical study promoted by Montpellier University Hospital. In total, it will analyze data collected from 55 people suffering from heart failure and around 20 healthy volunteers. "The study is progressing gradually, with new patients being added regularly. The idea is to validate the protocol and establish a link between cardiovascular diseases and gas concentrations at a given moment," continues Aurore Vicet, who hopes to complete the study by next fall, before handing over to Nicolas Molinari of IDESP for mathematical modeling that would then make it possible to define a "signature" in patients with heart failure.
Patent in the wake
Following the clinical study, SenseIR's technology could be patented and entrusted to a biomedical company capable of distributing the device. But for now, Aurore Vicet prefers to stick to her core business: research. Together with Fares Gouzi and an expanded consortium, she will launch a new project in the coming months, this time on the influence of environmental pollution on humans. This will be an opportunity to continue a "very fruitful" collaboration . "It's a wonderful collaboration between medicine and the science of lasers and electronic sensors, " says Aurore Vicet. " And it's rare enough to be worth highlighting."