The start-up

SCENT S.r.l. was born on April 1, 2015. The research started at the Sensor Laboratory (SL) at the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences of the University of Ferrara. The idea comes from the reading of scientific articles regarding cancer biomarkers, i.e. volatile organic compounds emitted by cancer cells. Such biomarkers are indicators of tumor presence. From these studies came the idea of applying nanostructured semiconductor sensors to the realization of medical devices for biomarkers detection, all through non-invasive tests. SCENT technology is based on a twenty-year experience of some of the co-founders in the application of nanostructures to gas detection. The sensors are entirely manufactured and assembled in laboratory and the continuous research on the materials allows to adapt them to different analysis systems.

Products / Services

SCENT A1 (prototype currently available) is a portable and patented device (both in Italy and Europe), easy to use and cost-effective, that will improve preventive screening of colorectal adenomas without complicating the procedure adopted by the NHS. It will be performed (such as fecal occult blood test, FOBT) on fecal samples, analysing the composition of their gaseous exhalations. Since May 2016, the device is undergoing clinical validation. SCENT A1, alongside FOBT, will reduce the false positives of the latter, whose existence is known, reducing the number of non-operative colonoscopies and improving the effectiveness of the screening system. SCENT B1 (prototype currently available) is a patented device (application filed in Italy) capable of detecting the presence of cancer cells through the bloodstream-carried markers. It may be used for post-operative monitoring or to verify the effectiveness of a therapy. The beginning of the clinical trial will be between the last months of 2017 and the first of 2018. The instrument can also be used in basic research to study healthy and tumoral cell cultures. The research of SCENT S.r.l. is currently very active in this area.