BBC Laboratory – Breath Biomarkers Chemical identification Laboratory

Lab Team

Lab Mission

The Breath Biomarkers Chemical identification Laboratory was established in 2022 as part of the EU-funded BRIEF project.
The lab focuses on the analysis of the chemical composition of breath samples. The comparison between samples from healthy people and people suffering from pathologies like colorectal and lung cancers or liver, respiratory or kidney diseases aims at identifying the main biomarkers linked to the investigated disease.
Breath and ambient air samples are collected on two adsorbent cartridges allowing both the assessment of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contained in a patient’s breath and the characterization of the ambient air in which the sampling takes place, to determine how much the environment may have influenced the patient’s exhaled breath.
The stored compounds are desorbed using a thermal desorber and the gas samples are sent through a transfer line to a Gas Chromatograph – Mass spectrometer (GC – MS). Chromatography allows molecules separation and elution at different times, while mass spectrometry breaks down molecules into ions, further measured based on the mass to charge ratio (m/z). The obtained MS spectrum allows the identification of both target molecules and unknowns.

The core objective of BBC Lab is to deepen the understanding of the composition of human breath and of how it varies in people suffering from pathologies like colorectal and lung cancers or liver, respiratory or kidney diseases, through the gold standard technology. With this aim, samples of healthy volunteers and patients are collected and analyzed. The aim of BBC lab is thus to create a database of biomarkers. Such a list of molecules would allow mass screening campaigns to facilitate early diagnosis and improve people’s lives. The BBC lab is also defined by its strong international collaboration network, as demonstrated by multiple joint publications and projects with renowned institutions including: Rice University, Shanxi University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Warsaw Institute of Technology, Technische Universität Wien, Nanyang Technological University, Munster Technological University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, CNR-INO, CNR-IFN, CNR-NEST, Technical University of Munich, Jinan University, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Università di Torino, University of Montpellier.

Devices 

The major laboratory equipment consists of:
• Sorbent Tubes (cartridges): tubes with an internal coating capable of adsorbing the molecules composing breath.
• Tube conditioner: removes volatile organic compounds and excess water trapped during sampling, preventing it from interfering with the sample analysis.
• Breath sampler: allows the collection of gaseous samples on two adsorbent cartridges: one stores the VOCs contained in the ambient air where sampling takes place, the other stores the compounds contained in the alveolar tract of the patient’s breath.
• Thermal desorber: enables high-productivity thermal desorption analysis of trace-level volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds with GC or GC–MS.
• Gas chromatographer (GC): Chromatography is based on a partition process that takes place between stationary and mobile phase for the different chemical species: compounds with poor affinity towards the stationary phase are keener on traveling with the mobile phase and will be poorly retained, while a stronger affinity means more propension to partition in the stationary phase, thus longer elution times
• Mass spectrometer (MS): the source emits a high-energy ion beam that collides with molecules, which break down into ions. Ions are then separated and measured as mass/charge (m/z) under vacuum conditions. The MS spectrum profile of the generated ions is characteristic of the chemical structure and allows identification of VOCs
• Chemistry hood for liquid and gaseous standards preparation for GC-MS calibration purposes

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