Instrumentation for Monitoring Breath Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Health, Condition, Toxic Exposure, and Disease

Arete Associates and National Jewish Medical and Research Center propose to develop an instrument to measure the concentration of ethane in exhaled breath. The analyzer uses the combination of a proprietary hollow optical waveguide measurement cell, tunable semiconductor laser, and wavelength modulation spectroscopy to provide sensitive and reliable measurements of ethane. The sensor will exhibit rapid response time (<1s), low minimum detection limits (100's of parts per trillion) and will be physically compact relative to other sensors with similar sensitivity. The proposed project leverages our experience developing a mid infrared laser absorption spectrometer (MIRLAS) to monitor NO in exhaled breath. In Phase I, a benchtop measurement system will be constructed and tested. This system will be challenged with a variety of laboratory air mixtures. Phase II will consist of the development and optimization of a prototype instrument that will be used to monitor both NO and ethane in research trials with human subjects at NJMRC. Ethane and NO measurements will be verified using gas chromatographic and chemiluminescence techniques respectively.