Alpha Szenszor Inc. and Technion Announce Joint Venture in Lung Cancer Diagnostics

Joint venture promises early stage, non-invasive screening with a dramatic reduction of false positive results.

CARLISLE, Mass. & HAIFA, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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.

“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”

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.”

About Alpha Szenszor Inc.

Alpha Szenszor is a provider of advanced e-nose technology for a wide range of life science applications. The Company’s proprietary Carbon Nanotube BioSensor technology has demonstrated direct, digital, state of the art sensitivity and selectivity that rivals most desktop units, but with the added benefit of consumer electronics price points and miniaturization. The ASI CNTnose also eliminates the need for cumbersome optical fluorescence and amplification techniques typically employed in biological testing, thus greatly reducing reagent costs and improving response time and portability. For more information, please visit http://www.alphaszenszor.com.

About The Technion

As Israel's oldest and premier institute of science and technology, the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology has been an active and leading participant in conceiving and shaping the high-tech nation of the State of Israel. Israel is now recognized as one of the world's most prominent high-tech innovators, and has been called the second Silicon Valley. Technology Transfer at Technion is carried out under the auspices of T³ – the Technion Office for Technology Transfer at the Technion Research & Development Foundation.