Nanosynth Tuberculosis Breathalyzer: An Innovative Solution to a Global Health Emergency

Student: Rachael Marshall, 2014-2015

Sponsor: Nanosynth Materials and Sensors, Salt Lake City, UT

An estimated 2 billion people are infected with tuberculosis worldwide, resulting in 1.3 million deaths every year. The burden of this disease is highest in developing regions of the world. Although $1 billion is spent on testing for TB, currently available diagnostic tests suffer from a combination of poor accuracy, require a substantial amount of time, and can be expensive. Nanosynth has developed a technology that can detect the biomarkers given off by TB in the lungs of infected individuals while overcoming the challenges faced by current diagnostic tests.