Seeing into the body through the breath
Our breath contains molecules that provide clues to our state of health. Researchers analyse these biomarkers and hope to find new ways to diagnose diseases. At the Zurich Exhalomics stand, you can find out what equipment is needed for this and how it works.
Blood analyses are time-consuming, expensive and unpleasant for many people. That is why we in the “Zurich Exhalomics” consortium analyse breath instead of blood. Our breath contains a lot of different molecules: some of them – the so-called biomarkers – indicate diseases or even the state of our health in general.
To analyse the breath, we use mass spectrometers (like the Vocus PTR-TOF shown on site) to determine the mass of the molecules in the breath. This allows us to distinguish between the many different molecules – and to analyse the breath in real time. Mass spectrometers are already used in clinical trials to study various diseases (e.g. asthma in children, sleep apnoea), or the processing of epilepsy drugs. But these devices are large and expensive. In addition, patients have to come to hospital for treatment. So that breath analysis can also be used in everyday life, we are developing small devices with sensors that recognise biomarkers in the breath. Then GPs can take the measurements, or even people in our environment.
One example is a device that can measure the toxic methanol in drinks or in the breath in case of poisoning. We are also developing an acetone detector so that diabetics can determine their blood sugar level in their breath or competitive athletes can monitor their metabolism. With our research, we hope to simplify diagnostics and provide faster results. We will take your breath away with our sensors and mass spectrometer!
