The 48th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (IEEE EMBC 2026), held in Toronto (where world’s first external artificial cardiac pacemaker was invented), Canada, brought together thousands of researchers, clinicians, engineers and industry professionals from around the world to present and discuss the latest advances in biomedical engineering, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital health. As the flagship conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), EMBC is one of the world’s premier forums for translating engineering innovations into clinical practice, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and technologies that improve healthcare delivery.
Representing the ONCOSCREEN consortium, the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) presented the latest progress on a non-invasive breath analyzer Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening solution. The work was presented during the poster sessions and will also be published as a full paper in the official IEEE EMBC 2026 Conference Proceedings. The study evaluated the performance of the ONCO-VOC portable breath analyzer which is equipped with 48 molecularly modified gold-nanoparticle sensors, demonstrating encouraging diagnostic performance (around 90% in sensitivity and specificity) by identifying disease-specific patterns in the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in exhaled breath. In parallel, Gas-chromatography and Mass Spectrometry analysis validated differences in breath profiles of Healthy controls and patients with CRC. The work is the result of a close collaboration between ICCS and Technion on the technological development of the platform, combined with prospective multicentre clinical trials conducted by the Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto), the University Medical Center Mainz and the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Lübeck. Together, these partners are developing next-generation technologies for early CRC detection within the framework of the Horizon Europe ONCOSCREEN project.
Breathomics is an emerging field, often under-represented, that investigates breath-based biomarkers. Interestingly, one of the earliest inspirations for this field originated from observations that trained dogs could distinguish cancer patients from healthy individuals solely by smell. These findings inspired decades of research into disease-specific breath signatures and ultimately led to the development of modern electronic nose (“e-nose”) technologies. Today, advances in nanotechnology, chemical sensing and machine learning allow portable devices such as ONCO-VOC to emulate biological olfaction by recognising complex VOC patterns rather than relying on individual biomarkers. This approach is particularly relevant for CRC, which remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide despite being highly treatable when detected at an early stage. Although colonoscopy remains the gold standard for diagnosis, its invasive nature, cost, limited availability and relatively low patient adherence continue to represent major barriers to population-wide screening. Though widely adopted, current screening standard is Fecal Immunochemical test (FIT) which exhibits modest accuracy with sensitivity rates up to 70%. ONCO-VOC aims to complement the existing screening pathways by providing a rapid, non-invasive and affordable triage tool that can help identify individuals who would benefit most from confirmatory colonoscopy. Such an approach has the potential to increase participation in screening programmes, support earlier diagnosis, optimise healthcare resources by enabling more targeted colonoscopies, reduce unnecessary invasive procedures and associated costs, and ultimately contribute to saving lives while making CRC screening more equitable and accessible.
The poster attracted remarkable interest throughout the conference, generating discussions with researchers from all over the world working in fields including AI, multi-omics, biosensors, gastroenterology, medical diagnostics and translational medicine. Many of these discussions focused on capabilities of explainable AI, multicentre clinical validation, regulatory pathways and the integration of non-invasive diagnostic technologies into routine clinical practice, providing valuable scientific feedback and opportunities for future collaboration.
One of the most rewarding aspects of participating in EMBC 2026 was the opportunity to engage with the broader biomedical engineering community through an outstanding scientific programme comprising inspiring plenary lectures, keynote presentations, and mini-symposia covering a wide range of topics and applications. Across the conference, internationally renowned experts emphasized how trustworthy AI, next-generation diagnostic technologies, and translational medicine are driving the transition from biomedical research to safe, effective, and clinically deployable healthcare solutions. A recurring message throughout the sessions was that successful clinical adoption depends not only on technological innovation but also on involving clinicians and patients in the co-design process from the earliest stages of development, alongside ensuring explainability, robustness, transparency, and rigorous clinical validation. In other words, high performance does not necessarily translate into high clinical impact.These principles closely align with the vision of ONCOSCREEN, where co-design lies at the heart of the project and AI is integrated as an evidence-based clinical decision-support capability rather than merely an accurate classification or assessment tool.
The ONCO-VOC team would like to express their sincere appreciation to all members of the ONCOSCREEN Consortium for their continuous collaboration, scientific excellence and collective efforts that made this work possible. They also gratefully acknowledge the European Commission for supporting ONCOSCREEN through the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 101097036). Presenting the project’s latest achievements at IEEE EMBC 2026 represents another important step towards translating cutting-edge European research into innovative clinical technologies that have the potential to improve CRC screening and ultimately contribute to better patient outcomes worldwide.