Elazığ students develop breath-analysis device for early cancer screening

Three students at Fırat University in Elazığ have developed a portable electrochemical biosensor for early cancer screening through breath analysis. The device measures compounds such as acetone and isoprene in exhaled breath using molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors. The team aims to support lung cancer pre-screening and clinical risk assessment.

The students are Eren Akdeniz, a fourth-year physics student; Ömer Serdar Kayabaşı, a third-year software engineering student; and Mehmet Mustafa Ataş, a second-year physics student. Their project, called Nefsense, is advised academically by Prof. Dr. Canan Aksu Canbay and technically by Prof. Dr. Hamdi Soner Altundoğan.

“Kanserin ilk tanı aşamasında bir fırsat olacaktır”

Nefsense received the Excellence Seal under the TÜBİTAK BiGG Investment 2026 First Call. The program received 2,844 applications nationwide, and 91 initiatives were awarded the seal. The students said they secured investment from TÜBİTAK and also called on businesspeople to support the device.

The prototype is expected to be completed within one year and integrated into the health system. Academic adviser Canan Aksu Canbay said the device would offer an opportunity at the initial diagnosis stage of cancer.

Canbay added that Nefsense is the first TÜBİTAK 1 project accepted at Fırat University and that the students conducted research on developing a sensor that detects cancer. She described the sensor’s working principle as based on detecting thermodynamic moisture balance.

The adviser also said the project is among approximately 90 projects selected from about 3,000 carried out in Turkey and wished success for Fırat University and Elazığ.