Beyond the classical lock/key-recognition-based approach used in the bio-analytical field, an electronic tongue or nose device (eT/eN) is an assembly of non-specific sensors. Following a long story around the imaging of biological interactions of biomolecules by surface plasmon resonance imaging, we recently extended this approach to the non-specific interactions studies in gas phase giving rise to a new optical-nose generation. The signals resulting from the binding of VOCs on an array of bioinspired receptors can be seen as 3D continuous dynamic images or movies. Finally, complex data obtained from odors are analyzed as simple images via a specific database. This flexible and straightforward approach allowed a downscaling of the device and a new miniaturized portable and generic opto-nose, Neose, was recently launched also based on silicon integrated photonic technologies (Mach-Zehnder interferometers array). The translation of a smell into an image could be seen as a first step to open up the merging of the olfactory and visual senses.
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