Feb 5 2013
Alpha Szenszor Inc., a leading provider of carbon nanotube based sensors and the Technion -Israel Institute of Technology have announced a joint venture for the commercialization of advanced lung cancer diagnostics based on Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) detection from human breath. The two organizations plan to merge expertise to commercialize an economically viable, non-invasive, digital tool for the early diagnosis of lung cancer.
Alpha Szenszor is an e-nose diagnostics company based on carbon nanotube (CNT) sensor chips. The Company has leveraged decades of consumer electronics integration and an extensive IP portfolio to offer direct digital detection of trace gases in low ppb concentrations using low cost, scalable, manufacturing processes.
Founded in 1912, Technion is the oldest university in Israel and has an outstanding reputation in technology transfer. It has 18 academic departments and 52 research centers. Pilot laboratory and clinical studies through Technion’s Laboratory for Nanomaterial-Based Devices (LNBD) have demonstrated the feasibility to diagnose and classify several diseases (including lung cancer) from exhaled breath using advanced spectrometry techniques as well as array of nanomaterial-based sensors, developed and patented by the same team.
“At Alpha Szenszor, we are excited to be working with one of the world’s premier research institutes in a field where the transformational benefits to human life have been so clearly demonstrated,” says Alpha Szenszor CEO Steve Lerner. “We look forward to this partnership with Technion as a critical step in the validation of early stage diagnostics through direct digital detection of gaseous biomarkers.”
“At Technion, we are excited by this new venture with Alpha Szenszor. The combination of strengths and expertise of both parties will greatly enhance our ability to save human lives,” says lead researcher Prof. Hossam Haick, of the Technion Department of Chemical Engineering. “The Technion's and Alpha Szenszor's strong IP portfolio and experience will enable the fast and effective transition of this valuable technology from the lab to the medical world where it will be of real benefit in the fight against cancer.”