Skip to main content

Genetically modified mice could help us sniff out explosives and diagnose diseases

genetically modified mice sniff out explosives diseases dbca09ea 50ee 44a9 be74 747a215ea5ee
Angeladellatorre/Flickr CC
Could genetically-modified mice be used to sniff out everything from land mines and other explosives to diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s?

That’s the dream of a new project unfolding at Hunter College in New York City, created by neurobiologist Paul Feinstein. Professor Feinstein has spent much of his career exploring the way in which odorant receptors form on the surface of neurons within the olfactory system. Each olfactory neuron has a singular receptor that specializes in a particular smell. Feinstein’s idea is that mice could be made to develop one especially powerful odor receptor: making that particular rodent up to 100x better at detecting specific odors.

“A lot of diseases probably elicit new odors in your body, some of which you might detect and others which you might not,” Professor Feinstein tells Digital Trends. “For example, one odor we know exists is the odor for tuberculosis in sputum samples. APOPO, which is a non-profit organization working in Africa, uses rats to seek out tuberculosis, as well as to search for land mines. What we want to do is to take these rodents and make them pay attention, or be more inclined to recognize, one particular odor.”

To make his mice better at “sniffing out” certain scents, Feinstein and his colleagues developed a DNA string that can can injected into a fertilized mouse egg — thereby making it more likely that the mouse will develop large quantities of specific olfactory neurons.

Right now, Feinstein’s work is still in the research stages. However, in the medium-term he thinks it could be used to create a sort-of “nose on chip” archive. “[We want] to create a library of mouse sensors that each express one human odour receptor, and then to extract the cells from the mice and put them onto a chip so the chip can read out odor signals that will activate those receptors expressed from the cells,” he says.

This work could have a broad range of applications. “If we can make an array of receptors from our mouse sensors on a platform technology like a chip we think we could use that as an odor detection grid — meaning that when a patient starts getting sick we think there’s a code in terms of specific odors which are released by the body,” Feinstein continues. “We think we could diagnose this through non-invasive measures like blood, saliva, urine or sweat. It could be a very powerful diagnostic tool for disease onset or progression.”

Editors' Recommendations

Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Genetically engineered algae could provide everything from biofuel to food
genetically engineered algae demo ge

A cutting-edge lab which develops a new strain of genetically engineered algae sounds like the setup to an ecological-themed horror movie.

In fact, it is the real-life work of scientists at the University of California, San Diego and renewable energy company Sapphire Energy and it could be exactly what the world is looking for.

Read more
How snapping a quick selfie could help identify genetic diseases
facial recognition gyfcat race fbi face mugshot 970x644g

Facial recognition can do some pretty impressive things, but could similar technology help diagnose a genetic disease simply by analyzing a person’s features? Known as dysmorphology, such an achievement is theoretically possible -- but it tends to involve a skill only acquired by extremely experienced medical specialists who have a lifetime of data to draw on.

That’s what AI software called Face2Gene, developed by the company FDNA, is now attempting to do as well -- by analyzing images of patients' faces to arrive at possible diagnoses. The company is hoping that its resulting app, which lets doctors snap an image of a patient and receive a suggested diagnosis, could help transform this field.

Read more
Office of Naval Research thinks cyborg locusts could help us sniff out explosives
cyborg locusts office of naval research img 5213

Dogs are regularly used for sniffing out bombs due to their superior sense of smell. But Baranidharan Raman, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has another idea which doesn’t involve canines. Instead, he thinks we will soon be turning the job of sniffing out explosive chemicals over to none other than backpack-wearing remote-control cyborg locusts. Yes, really!

Calling his work a “bridge between neuroscience and engineering,” Raman’s efforts may sound far-fetched, but they’re apparently serious enough to receive funding from the Office of Naval Research.

Read more