A new super-sensitive optical nose, developed by researchers in Scotland, to find oil and gas reservoirs has potentially a second use as a breathalyser to sniff out lung cancer in its early stages.

The device, which will be on display at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition, measures tiny quantities of the gas ethane which naturally leak from oil and gas reservoirs into the atmosphere. A team from University of Glasgow has developed a sensor system that can sniff out ethane in the air at less than one part per billion. Shell Global Solutions have used the sensor in the back of a Landcruiser to help prospect for new oil and gas reserves

Thanks to a team from University of Dundee, the same device can also detect ethane in a patient's breath. In response to cancer, free radicals within the body increasingly break down cell membranes into hydrocarbons including ethane. The sensor is now being put to the test in clinical trials for detecting early stages of lung cancer when other symptoms are yet to appear.

You can find out more about this exhibit at: www.sc1.ac.uk/discover/2003ex16.cfm

For more information about the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition, call 020 7451 2574 or visit our website at www.royalsoc.ac.uk or www.sc1.ac.uk

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

1. For further details on this project, please contact Judith Hodgson at University of Glasgow Press Office on 0141 330 3535 or Jenny Marra at Dundee University Press Office on 01382 344 021

2. Photographs relating to exhibits are available on request from Royal Society

3. Contact details for all exhibitors at this year?s Summer Science Exhibition are available upon request from the Royal Society?s press office.

4. The Royal Society is an independent academy promoting the natural and applied sciences. Founded in 1660, the Society has three roles, as the UK academy of science, as a learned Society, and as a funding agency. It responds to individual demand with selection by merit, not by field. The Society?s objectives are to:

- recognise excellence in science
-support leading-edge scientific research and its applications
-stimulate international interaction
- further the role of science, engineering and technology in society
-promote education and the public?s understanding of science
- provide independent authoritative advice on matters relating to science, engineering and technology
-encourage research into the history of science

For further information on Royal Society, please contact:
Tim Watson
Press and Public Relations
The Royal Society, London
Tel: 020 7451 2508
Email: tim.watson@royalsoc.ac.uk

First published: 1 July 2003