Open wounds have the potential for infection which can lead to devastating outcomes for patients. Open wounds are common in patients undergoing plastic surgery and vascular surgery and are common in systemic diseases such as diabetes. At present the standard of care for large open wounds is to clinically assess them for infection by their clinical appearance (for example the presence of surrounding cellulitis in conjunction with signs of a systemic inflammatory response) and by wound swab microbiology analysis at the time of dressing change. Some wounds can have an offensive odour resulting from either specific bacterial colonization or from tissue necrosis. At present it is hard to distinguish between an infected malodourous wound and a colonized malodourous wound, apart from by expert clinical opinion. Traditional wound swab microbiology can take between 48h and 72h until a dominant bacterial strain can be identified, and so the malodourous and clinically infected wound is usually treated empirically with the “best guess” antibiotic. This can lead to the over prescription of antibiotics, and further problems such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). An olfactory biosensor, or electronic nose, can detect volatile compounds emitted by bacteria and provide a point of care test for diagnosing bacterial colonization and possibly pathogenic strains of bacteria that could lead to wound infection and sepsis. With this additional information to add to the clinical picture, more appropriate use of antibiotics is anticipated, leading to improved patient outcomes