Vice-Chancellor's Speaker Series - Medical Detection Dogs

Medical Detection Dogs is at the forefront of innovative research into dogs’ ability to detect the smell of human diseases and save lives.

The dog’s nose is the best biosensor we know of. Our 2014 research indicated that our dogs could detect tiny traces (around one part per trillion – the equivalent of one teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic sized swimming pools) of the odour created by different diseases.

Our pioneering work is focused on understanding how these highly trained disease detectors could expand the world of diagnosis through the recognition of volatiles. We are confident that dogs will be able to help scientists and medics develop faster and cheaper ways to detect diseases, such as cancers, neurological diseases, and bacterial infections much earlier than is currently possible.

The UK has one of the worst cancer survival rates in Europe – because of late diagnosis. At Medical Detection Dogs we believe our research will help early diagnosis improve in the future.

Host or Publisher University of Buckingham