Our breath holds more secrets than we realize
SINTEF experts on microchip technology are working on a method to detect biomarkers in our breath and to miniaturize a monitoring device. The project can help to discover symptoms of COPD earlier and change the lives of millions of people suffering from this disease.
Blood tests are a common method for detecting disease or vitamin deficiency. Now researchers at SINTEF are working to find signs of disease in human breath through the EU-funded BreathSense project. The goal is to develop a solution that allows people at risk – whether at home or at work – to self-monitor their health using information from their breath.
“We’re working with several excellent partners in this project, where SINTEF’s role focuses on the development of microchips. We’re pleased that we already have a prototype chip that shows promising initial results, after just one year in,” says Elizaveta Vereshchagina, project manager and a senior researcher at SINTEF.
Hands-on experience in breath analysis on microchips: SINTEF scientists Karolina Milenko-Kuszewska, Elizaveta Vereshchagina and Enrique Escobedo-Cousin are testing a device capable of measuring chemicals in one’s breath. In the near future, this technology could be used to provide rapid diagnostics with just one breath! Photo: SINTEF
The BreathSense project is part of the European Innovation Council portfolio “Towards the healthcare continuum,” which aims to develop at-home breath analysis technologies, financed by Horizon Europe (grant agreement number 101115028).
Health information detected in breath
People with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) often face challenges related to breathing, such as breathlessness from exercise, severe fatigue, and periods of acute episodes called exacerbations. Currently, diagnosis relies on assessing symptoms, but by the time symptoms appear, it is often too late to initiate effective preventive treatment.
The technology being developed in the BreathSense project aims to enable at-risk patients to periodically test their own breath at home. Real-time analysis of this data could help detect an upcoming attack early enough for timely intervention. The project does not only involve creating a new tool but also represents a step towards a revolutionary method for monitoring diseases, by bringing healthcare from hospitals into homes.
“Our breath contains nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapours, along with various other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The exact composition of these VOCs varies from person to person and can provide information about a person’s general health. In this project we’re developing a device that can measure this unique signature,” says Enrique Escobedo-Cousin, a senior research scientist at SINTEF.
This can be compared to the information obtained from blood tests, but without invasive interventions, such as blood drawing or biopsies.
“If you’re sick, your breath contains different molecules, called biomarkers, compared to when you’re healthy. A small change in the concentration of relevant chemical compounds can give an indication, and this is what we want to find out by capturing breath on microchips,” says Karolina Milenko–Kuszewska, a research scientist at SINTEF.
The hope is that artificial intelligence can help analyse the data to distinguish the different molecules in the breath from each other, find relevant patterns, and eventually make clinically relevant predictions.
A microplasma-on-a-chip experiment run at the SINTEF lab: Each molecule in the sample contributes to a distinct colour of light that is emitted, and their different wavelengths reveal the sample’s contents. Machine learning methods will analyse the data collected, which can provide personalized information about a person’s health. Photo: SINTEF
Towards a portable hospital at home
The consortium’s goal is to create a portable breath analysis device for home use. RespiQ, an innovative start-up company from the Netherlands, is interested in bringing a COPD breath monitoring device to the market. Experts in electronics (uRoboptics, Portugal), user experience (NeLL, Netherlands) and researchers in biomedical microsystems and micro-optics at SINTEF, are collaborating with RespiQ.
“By using digitally captured biomarkers, patients and doctors can reliably predict and detect exacerbations at their onset. They can act early to reduce the impact of the attack and avoid hospitalization, morbidity and perhaps mortality. Our clinical studies show that preventing COPD exacerbations can have significant health benefits,” says Dr. Richard Russell, an associate professor at King’s College in London.
In this project, we would like to find out if we can reduce the number of hospitalizations and improve patients’ quality of life by integrating BreathSense technology into the current healthcare routines. The ambitious hypothesis behind the project is that patients could self-monitor their health at home and could potentially even prevent attacks with early medication.
“Today we wait until an attack is underway before using significant healthcare resources to examine people with COPD in hospitals. If attacks can be detected by patients in their own homes, then it’s likely that we would be able to save a lot of time and unnecessary suffering for the patients and improve their outcomes,” Russell says.
Could benefit millions of people
The researchers already have evidence that microchip technology is a good option for spotting biomarkers in our breath. At the same time, the consortium in BreathSense is building a breathalyser system to bring all the hardware together, as well as to test the robustness of the method for COPD application.
Today, the prototype is the size of a shoebox. The goal is to reduce the device to something portable, cost-efficient and easy to use. This is the role of the Dutch start-up RespiQ and the Portuguese company uRoboptics.
“We’re working towards a breath analysis device that will be accessible in every home, with the aim of providing better health insights and improving the quality of life for chronic patients, while simultaneously reducing the need for diagnostic hospital visits. For COPD patients specifically, we expect to drastically improve their quality of life by enabling them to prevent harmful exacerbations,” says Cristian D’Alessandro, the CTO of RespiQ.
“The BreathSense project relies on a fusion of engineering, chemistry, physics, and medicine. Some exciting processes are happening behind the scenes: high-voltage currents generate glow discharge plasma, enabling the decoding of chemical compounds.
By leveraging AI techniques, the faint, yet distinct signatures of characteristic VOCs can be detected. All this happens across less than 50 micron distances on a chip!
It’s impressive how diverse physical theories, microchip technology and advanced signal processing converge into advanced medical applications that could improve many people’s lives”, uRoboptics managing partner Ricardo Ferreira adds enthusiastically.
Could also detect other diseases
The BreathSense project receives support through the EU’s Pathfinder program, which is awarded to prestigious innovation projects with high scientific ambition and impact but also risks. If the project succeeds it will benefit millions of people and reduce pressure on the healthcare system.
“We believe that the diagnostic device can also be adapted for other respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases like asthma, lung cancer, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
We’re really excited about the results so far and look forward to continuing our work. With such an excellent team of experts, we are confident in the future results,” says Vereshchagina.
