NANOHMICS INC — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NIEHS

Description

Summary Volatile organic compoundsVOCsare known to be diagnostic for human healthHoweverthe ability to effectively diagnose and classify a disease state using only patient exhaled breath is the subject of great debateA recently published ACS NanoDecmulti national clinical study on breath diagnostics by Nakhleh et altitledDiagnosis and classification ofdiseases fromsubjects via pattern analysis of exhaled moleculeshad the conclusion that anartificially intelligent nanoarraywhich evaluatedsubjects in nine clinical settings composed of blind experiments could achieveaccuracy for blind experiment discrimination between diseasesThis was based on the fact that each disease displayed a unique volatile molecular signature compared to healthy controls and other diseasesThe results highlighted the need to continue the development of new compact VOC measurement systems that employ methods for quantification of individual components in complex mixtures of VOCse gexhaled breathThe critical barrier for development of a low profile vapor environment monitoring device is the introduction of new solid state transducer arrays that can quantify transient VOC doses and analyze the response profile without requiring bulky benchtop processes such as chromatography columns and associated vacuum detectors necessary for methods such as mass spectrometryTo accomplish this goalNanohmics Incproposes to develop a multiplexed VOC detetection platform based on direct electrical detection from metal oxide semiconductor arrays patterned using the method of NanoImprint LithographyNILfor high sensitivity signature profiling of breath borne VOC biomarkers that will accelerate the discovery of potential new methods for disease state monitoring Narrative The overall goal of this research effort is to provide researchersclinicians and physicians with a selective detection platform that provides the ability to substantially improve volatile organic compoundsVOCbiomarker discovery for potential future disease state monitoring applicationsThe recentDecmultinational clinical trial published by Nathkeh et alillustrated that breath diagnostics could yield a highcorrelation with disease predictionusing a relatively basic detection array methodologyOur device will be significantly more robust and tunable using peptides as the deriviatization layer for chemical class differentiationFurthermoredata collection of the temporal response profile promises high sensitivity because the derivatization layer can be tailored with the large diversity of peptide sequencesIn additiona vapor tracking device would allow for long term exposure history trackingwhereby a highly non intrusivecompact breath collection device could be used to monitor VOC biomarkersand potentially analyze onset as a first level of screeningi esignifying the need to visit a physician for further testingThe ability to monitor health status through non invasive breath monitoring would be significantas the breath is rich with physiological markers of both invasive type disease as well as acute infection from foreign pathogensThere are currently no devices on the market that can differentiate VOCs to the level needed for signature profiling of disease states