You exhale...
...we diagnose!
Zurich Exhalomics
A flagship project of Hochschulmedizin Zürich
Zurich Exhalomics
A flagship project of Hochschulmedizin Zürich
Since 2015, we are striving for making breath analysis routine.
Medical diagnostics is often invasive, time-consuming or expensive - frequently all three of these factors together. Breath analysis is a promising alternative that can provide diagnosis or medical monitoring quickly, non-invasively and inexpensively. The consortium of Zurich Exhalomics is fully focused on making the exhalome - the entity of the exhaled molecules - interpretable and usable in everyday clinical practice.
The close, interinstitutional collaboration of researchers from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, the University Hospital Zurich, the University Children's Hospital Zurich, the University of Basel, the University Children's Hospital Basel, Empa, the Paul Scherrer Institute, and Agroscope enables all participants to benefit from each other's know-how and to work towards the vision of non-invasive medical diagnostics via breath analysis.
We collect exhaled air either offline or directly at the inlet of the mass spectrometer.
We analyse the exhalome for specific volatile molecules, down to the ppq (parts per quadrillion) range.
If we find characteristic biomarkers in the exhalome, we can diagnose health or disease conditions.
Prof. Dr. med. Malcolm Kohler, Head of the Department of Pulmonology at UZH/USZ and Prof. Dr. Renato Zenobi, Head of the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry at ETH, are the project leaders. They work closely together with 14 interdisciplinary teams and their Principal Investigators.
Through the multitude of combined disciplines, we can conduct research in Zurich Exhalomics that is unique in the world and will have a high societal benefit in the longer term.
The research group leaders jointly develop projects, which they drive forward with their groups.
They have been members for many years and are now thankfully making their expertise available on an ad hoc basis.
14 research groups from fundamental sciences, to engineering, to clinical practice are closely working together for
Developing detection and quantification techniques for exhaled molecules down to the ppq concentration range (1 ppq = one per 1,000,000,000,000,000).
Monitoring medication levels with narrow efficacy and safety range in children and adults (Example: antiepileptics and propofol).
Establishing algorithms for big data analysis – searching for molecular patterns of relevance.
Detecting and quantifying biomarkers for globally relevant diseases, such as COPD, obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, covid-19, lung cancer, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary infections.
Understanding how a specific diet and circadian rhythms influence our microbiome with subsequent detection of characteristic exhaled molecules.
Understanding the interaction between microbiome and circadian clocks and its impact on sleep obstruction – all analyzed via exhaled molecules.
Understanding the impact of nutrition and food on human health, applying online-analytical tools, mice models and clinical studies.
Promising biomarkers for diseases, and medication and health stati are being validated in clincial settings.
Increasing robustness and decreasing complexity of sensor, laser spectroscopy and high-resolution mass-spectrometry techniques, for the quantification of relevant biomarkers.
by Dr. Raphael Brechbühler, Empa
Read Moreby Dr. Stamatios Giannoukos, ETH Zürich, and Dr. Guy Vergères, Agroscope
Read Moreby Dr. Imad El Haddad, Group Leader Paul Scherrer Institute, and Prof. Dr. med. Alexander Möller, Head of Pediatric Pneumology at Children University Hospital Zurich.
Read MoreZurich Exhalomics is generously supported by the Uniscientia Foundation, the Lotte and Adolf Hotz-Sprenger Foundation, the Evi Diethelm-Winteler Foundation, the Heidi Ras Foundation, the SNF Foundation, the Ascher Trust, and other donors. The ETH Zurich Foundation, the UZH Foundation, and the USZ Foundation support the Zurich Exhalomics project in partnership building. Don't hesitate to contact us if you would like to support Zurich Exhalomics on the journey to bring breath analysis into clinical routine.
