--- title: New sensor sniffs out pneumonia on a patient’s breath description: MIT engineers have developed PlasmoSniff, a portable chip-scale breath sensor that can detect pneumonia and other diseases within minutes. The system works by... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/new-sensor-sniffs-out-pneumonia-on-a-patient-s-breath-njk77ouag twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: New sensor sniffs out pneumonia on a patient’s breath | daily.dev og:description: MIT engineers have developed PlasmoSniff, a portable chip-scale breath sensor that can detect pneumonia and other diseases within minutes. The system works by... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/new-sensor-sniffs-out-pneumonia-on-a-patient-s-breath-njk77ouag og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Njk77OuAg.png og:image:alt: New sensor sniffs out pneumonia on a patient’s breath og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # New sensor sniffs out pneumonia on a patient’s breath **[MIT News](https://daily.dev/sources/mit)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary MIT engineers have developed PlasmoSniff, a portable chip-scale breath sensor that can detect pneumonia and other diseases within minutes. The system works by having patients inhale nanoparticles tagged with synthetic biomarkers; if disease-related enzymes are present, they cleave the biomarkers, which are then exhaled and detected. The sensor uses plasmonic resonance and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to trap and amplify the signal of these biomarkers at concentrations as low as 10 parts per billion — without requiring bulky lab equipment. The team plans to integrate the sensor into a handheld device paired with a breath-collection mask. Beyond pneumonia, the platform can potentially detect cancers, infections, industrial chemicals, and airborne pollutants. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [A breath test could diagnose pneumonia in minutes](https://daily.dev/posts/a-breath-test-could-diagnose-pneumonia-in-minutes-gvtqpewsm) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A new sensor could enable earlier detection of bladder cancer](https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-sensor-could-enable-earlier-detection-of-bladder-cancer-gwr8a5bqt) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [PNOE’s new face mask wants to make lab-grade breath testing a self-serve affair](https://daily.dev/posts/pnoe-s-new-face-mask-wants-to-make-lab-grade-breath-testing-a-self-serve-affair-uvelmqxjx) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Electronic Nose Sniffs Out Mold](https://daily.dev/posts/electronic-nose-sniffs-out-mold-nm5saosow) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Fluorescent nanosensor enables rapid, first-of-its-kind detection of key gut health biomarker](https://daily.dev/posts/fluorescent-nanosensor-enables-rapid-first-of-its-kind-detection-of-key-gut-health-biomarker-7h0yz1sgq) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/new-sensor-sniffs-out-pneumonia-on-a-patient-s-breath-njk77ouag) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"New sensor sniffs out pneumonia on a patient’s breath","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-sensor-sniffs-out-pneumonia-on-a-patient-s-breath-njk77ouag","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-sensor-sniffs-out-pneumonia-on-a-patient-s-breath-njk77ouag"},"datePublished":"2026-03-16T04:02:19.600Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T04:02:47.181Z","description":"MIT engineers have developed PlasmoSniff, a portable chip-scale breath sensor that can detect pneumonia and other diseases within minutes. The system works by...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/902889c8778f60aefc7672968ee4f3c6?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/902889c8778f60aefc7672968ee4f3c6?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"MIT News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/881e20a40aa44b12ba4bd27f5c14289d","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-sensor-sniffs-out-pneumonia-on-a-patient-s-breath-njk77ouag","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT7M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MIT News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"New sensor sniffs out pneumonia on a patient’s breath"}]} ```