“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination encircles the world”
Scientific productions
- Albert Einstein -
Piqueret et al., 2023, Proc. R. Soc. B
Piqueret et al., 2022, iScience
Piqueret et al., 2023, Front. Ecol. Evol
Piqueret et al., 2021, Cambridge University Press.
Piqueret et al., 2019, Royal Society Open Science
Early detection of cancer is critical in medical sciences, as the sooner a cancer is diagnosed, the higher are the chances of recovery. Tumour cells are characterized by specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can be used as cancer biomarkers. Through olfactory associative learning, animals can be trained to detect these VOCs. Insects such as ants have a refined sense of smell, and can be easily and rapidly trained with olfactory conditioning. Using urine from patient-derived xenograft mice as stimulus, we demonstrate that individual ants can learn to discriminate the odour of healthy mice from that of tumour-bearing mice and do so after only three conditioning trials. After training, they spend approximately 20% more time in the vicinity of the learned odour than beside the other stimulus. Chemical analyses confirmed that the presence of the tumour changed the urine odour, supporting the behavioural results. Our study demonstrates that ants reliably detect tumour cues in mice urine and have the potential to act as efficient and inexpensive cancer bio-detectors.
(c) Paul Devienne
Agents that cause disease alter the cell metabolism of their hosts. Cells with an altered metabolism produce particular profiles of biomolecules, which are different from those of healthy cells. Such differences may be detected by olfaction. Historically, physicians used olfactory cues to diagnose sickness by smelling the breath or the urine of patients. However, other species have been shown to possess excellent olfactory abilities. Dogs, for instance, have been frequently used as biodetectors of human diseases, including cancer, viral and bacterial infections. Other mammalian species, such as rats, have been trained to perform similar tasks, but their disease detection abilities remain poorly explored. Here, we focus on the overlooked potential of invertebrate species and we review the current literature on olfactory detection of diseases by these animals. We discuss the possible advantages of exploring further the abilities of invertebrates as detection tools for human disease.
Better safe than sorry! Methods to detect cancer are available, however not all the population at risk is willing to get diagnosed. Why? Simply because the methods used can be expensive and/or invasive. The need for alternative, non invasive, cheap (and efficient!) methods arise. Cells in your body are producing specific patterns of volatile compounds that can be used as biomarkers of disease.
Cancer is among the world’s leading causes of death. A critical challenge for public health is to develop a non-invasive, inexpensive, and efficient tool for early cancer detection. Cancer cells are characterized by an altered metabolism, producing unique patterns of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can be used as cancer biomarkers. Dogs can detect VOCs via olfactory associative learning, but training dogs is costly and time-consuming. Insects, such as ants, have a refined sense of smell and can be rapidly trained. We show that individual ants need only a few training trials to learn, memorize and reliably detect the odor of human cancer cells. These performances rely on specific VOC patterns, as shown by gas-chromatography/mass-spectrometry. Our findings suggest that using ants as living tools to detect biomarkers of human cancer is feasible, fast, and less laborious than using other animals.
(c) Paul Devienne
The trait common to all ant species is sociality: they are all social insects that live in colonies. As in human societies, the size of ant societies varies enormously, from just a few individuals to tens of millions. Ants show extraordinary adaptations. They evolved the ability to build complex nest structures; they cultivate fungi for food and milk aphids, thus practicing agriculture and animal farming; they have nurseries and cemeteries, they cooperate. For these societies to be functional and ecologically successful, individuals must have a way to communicate between them. Otherwise, it would be chaos...
Imagine you ate at the most wonderful restaurant, and the next day, you try to eat at this place again. Unfortunately, the restaurant is closed until further notice. How many times will you try to get in before giving up? Probably two or three times, no more. However, if you were an ant, you will probably still be waiting for the reopening!
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Using a simple conditioning protocol, we shown that ants are able to associate an odour to a reward after a single conditioning trial. Then, using a pharmacological approach, we shown that this single-trial memory critically depends on protein synthesis (genuine long-term memory). Finally, we demonstrated that this single-trial memory is highly resistant to extinction.
