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University of Leicester, Loughborough University and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust experts lead development of the East Midlands Breathomics Pathology Node.

Researchers from the University of Leicester are leading the establishment of a new Centre to develop breath analysis tests that could help in the rapid diagnosis and treatment for a range of conditions, including cancers, respiratory infections and diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The East Midlands Breathomics Pathology Node (EMBER) has been established with a £2.5 million grant from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to develop breath-based systems for molecular pathology. 

Precision Medicine subdivides patients with a shared disease into groups based on, for instance, their risk of the disease progressing or how they respond to treatment. Identification of these different groups can help predict the most effective and safe intervention for individual patients. In addition, by understanding the underlying mechanisms that cause these differences, researchers can develop new interventions for those groups whose needs are currently not well met.

The air we breathe out contains a cocktail of volatile organic compounds that give a snapshot of the biological processes taking place in the lungs and beyond. EMBER will help develop breath analysis tests and these could give an instant diagnosis and help doctors pick the best treatments for a range of conditions. 

EMBER draws upon expertise in clinical research, analytical chemistry, data management and mathematical modelling of complex data across the East Midlands from University of Leicester, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Loughborough University together with industry to develop rapid, near patient non-invasive approaches to diagnosis, phenotyping and stratification. The consortium hopes to establish a multidisciplinary world-class centre that is driving the discovery, development, validation and adoption of non-invasive technologies to characterise disease signatures based upon the molecular analysis of breath. 

Professor Chris Brightling, Professor of Respiratory Medicine and NIHR Senior Investigator at the University of Leicester’s Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, said: “EMBER brings us an exciting opportunity to develop new breath tests to understand the types of diseases that one has and the right treatments for them. This is applicable to all patients and it has particular advantages in the elderly and children where other tests such as blood tests are more challenging.’’

EMBER aims to translate such technology with broad applicability in adults and children to enhance the benefits of stratified medicine. 

EMBER’s innovation will provide novel breathomic applications for near-patient testing to direct stratified medicine with consequent patient, economic and research benefits.

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