BrainChip Inc. and NaNose Medical Successfully Detect COVID-19 in Exhaled Breath with Fast High-Accuracy Results

via Bloomberg

Akida AI chip ideal for hand-held diagnostic testing device

Business Wire ALISO VIEJO, Calif. — February 24, 2021 BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN), a leading provider of ultra-low power high performance artificial intelligence technology, today announced progress in testing with the NaNose (Nano Artificial Nose) where patients’ exhaled breath samples were tested for COVID-19.

NaNose Medical technology, based on the artificial nose developed at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, has the same sensitivity to minute quantities of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) as a dog’s nose. It has been tested by the Technion since 2017 to identify diseases including Parkinson’s, cancers, kidney failure, multiple sclerosis and infectious diseases such as COVID-19. NaNose Medical collected samples from 130 patients and sent nanomaterial sensor data to BrainChip’s Research Institute in Perth, Western Australia, which configured and trained its Akida™ neuromorphic processor to interpret the data using AI/ML. The system detected the instances of COVID-19 between a disease group and a healthy control group and Akida learned to recognize patterns of VOC biomarkers associated with an infection within seconds with a high level of accuracy in a minimal time frame. NaNose Medical is currently collecting samples from three primary worldwide locations and will work with BrainChip to evaluate the data.