Can animals detect cancer?:Bengaluru startup combining dogs’ powerful sense of smell with AI to spot cancer

What if a simple breath sample could help spot cancer, with the help of a dog’s powerful nose and artificial intelligence? A Bengaluru startup is working to turn that idea into a low-cost screening tool for people across India. On a two-acre farm on the outskirts of Bengaluru, dogs named Billy, Jessie, Banu and Whiskey have an unusual job. They spend part of their day inside a laboratory, sniffing human breath samples for possible signs of cancer. The dogs are part of ‘Dognosis,’ a two-year-old Bengaluru-based startup that is combining the natural ability of dogs to detect tiny changes in smell with sensors and AI. The company hopes its approach could eventually make cancer screening simpler, cheaper and more accessible. According to a Bloomberg report, Dognosis is training beagles, labradors, Dutch shepherds and other breeds to identify chemical signals linked to cancer in human breath. How can dogs detect cancer? A dog’s sense of smell is far more sensitive than that of humans. Dogs are already trained to detect drugs, explosives and other substances. Researchers have also been studying whether they can identify diseases through changes in a person’s body chemistry. Dognosis is applying the same principle to cancer. For the test, a person breathes into a specially designed mask. The sample is then taken to the company’s facility, where trained dogs are exposed to it. The dogs do not simply give a yes-or-no answer on their own. Dognosis uses sensors and AI to track what happens when a dog encounters a sample. The system can study factors such as the dog’s movement, breathing pattern, body language and other signals to determine whether the sample may contain signs associated with cancer. This could offer a screening method that does not initially require scans, blood draws or biopsies. The company wants to solve one of the biggest challenges with using dogs for medical testing: how do you turn an animal’s highly sensitive but difficult-to-standardise sense of smell into a reliable screening system that can work at scale? Sensors record the dogs’ responses, while AI helps analyse those signals. The goal is to reduce the dependence on simply observing whether a dog sits, stops or moves away from a sample. The dogs treat it like a game The dogs at Dognosis live together at the company’s farm and laboratory. Their routine includes walks, playtime and short detection sessions. According to the company, the dogs typically spend around 30 minutes to an hour a day working on the detection platform. During one session described in the Bloomberg report, a two-year-old beagle named ‘Whiskey’ went through 10 samples. She quickly moved past the first five. At the sixth sample, she stopped, sniffed it, moved away and returned several times before the system marked it as positive. Dognosis reports about 90% sensitivity In a Phase 2 study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dognosis reported around 90% sensitivity for early-stage cancers across seven broad cancer groups covering more than 20 cancer types, including breast cancer. The company also says its dogs showed an ability to identify a cancer type they had not specifically been trained on. According to co-founder Akash Kulgod, dogs trained using samples from 10 cancer types were able to identify an 11th type. However, the bigger challenge is still ahead: proving that these results remain reliable when the technology is tested on much larger and more diverse groups of people. Why this could matter in India Early cancer detection remains a major challenge in India, particularly because routine screening is still uncommon. The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimated that India recorded around 1.5 million new cancer cases and more than 900,000 cancer deaths in 2024. Breast cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer, followed by cancers of the lip and oral cavity, lung and cervix. Against this backdrop, an easy-to-use screening test could potentially help identify people who need further medical testing. But it is important to note that Dognosis’ approach is being developed as a prescreening tool, not a replacement for established cancer diagnosis. People who receive a positive result would still need conventional medical tests such as imaging or biopsy. Dognosis begins a larger Phase 3 trial To test its technology on a much larger scale, Dognosis began a Phase 3 study in April involving 10 hospitals across India. The company plans to recruit about 10,000 people over 12 months. The study will focus on people who do not have symptoms but may have a higher risk of cancer, as well as cancer survivors who could be at risk of recurrence. Anyone flagged by the system will undergo standard follow-up tests, including imaging and biopsy where required. If the results hold up, Dognosis plans to launch its screening service in Bengaluru before expanding to other parts of India through diagnostic chains and healthcare providers.