SenseIR: Keeping Cardiovascular Diseases at Bay
Aurore Vicet, a professor at the University of Montpellier and a researcher with the Nanomir team at the Institute of Electronics and Systems (IES), is the founder of the SenseIR project. This technology is designed to detect cardiovascular diseases in exhaled breath using infrared lasers. The clinical trial has just begun.
A rapid, non-invasive diagnosis that can be performed on-site at the patient’s bedside… That is the goal of the SenseIR project. The result of a collaboration between the IES, the University Hospital, the Laboratory of Cardiac and Muscle Physiology and Experimental Medicine (PhyMedExp), and the Desbrest Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health (Idesp), this promising tool could soon enable the medical community to diagnose cardiovascular diseases using a device capable of detecting certain biomarkers in the air exhaled by patients.
The idea took shape in 2020 at a table in the university hospital, during a meeting between Aurore Vicet, a researcher on the NanoMir team, and Fares Gouzi, a physiologist and pulmonologist at the hospital. 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 thrilled. “We knew that infrared had tremendous potential. We figured we had to work together. During the lockdown, we responded to a call for projects Muse, and we got started in October 2020 with Diba Ayache’s thesis and then Tarek Seoudi’s postdoc,” recalls Aurore Vicet.
Clarification
In the first few months, the small team set out to identify molecules associated with certain cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure, and certain respiratory conditions. In these specific cases, patients’ breath may contain elevated levels of acetone and carbon monoxide. In total, four gases were selected by Aurore Vicet and Fares Gouzi, who then worked on the various lasers capable of analyzing each of the molecules to obtain the most precise possible reading of the levels present.
A complex yet necessary step. “There was a lot of work involved in adjusting the optics and instrumentation. We had to develop data acquisition programs and run simulations… For certain molecules, fine-tuning was difficult. It requires a high degree of precision,” explains Aurore Vicet, who is using the technique of photoacoustic spectroscopy here. In short, the idea is to excite the target molecules via the modulated emission of infrared radiation that each of them is capable of absorbing. The process produces a sound imperceptible to the human ear, but one that researchers are able to detect using a miniature quartz tuning fork, similar to those used in watchmaking.
Clinical trial
At the same time, we had to recreate simulated exhalation conditions for the initial tests. “Our breath is warm, full of water and CO2, and varies greatly from person to person. All these factors present additional experimental challenges. In vivo measurements are always more complicated than basic calibration curves using gas cylinders in a lab, ” the researcher points out.
Since early May, the team has been conducting the clinical trial, sponsored by Montpellier University Hospital. In total, the study will analyze data collected from 55 people with heart failure and about 20 healthy volunteers. “The study is progressing step by step, with new patients being enrolled on a regular basis. The goal is to validate the protocol and establish a link between cardiovascular conditions and gas concentrations at a given point in time, ” continues Aurore Vicet, who hopes to complete the study by next fall, before handing the project over to Nicolas Molinari of IDESP for mathematical modeling that would then allow for the identification of a “signature” in patients with heart failure.
Patent to follow
Following the clinical trial, SenseIR’s technology could be patented and licensed to a biomedical company capable of bringing the device to market. But for now, Aurore Vicet prefers to stick to her core business: research. Together with Fares Gouzi and a broader consortium, she will launch a new project in the coming months, this time focusing on the impact of environmental pollution on humans. It’s an opportunity to build on 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.”