10025083xHALEscreen: Resilience FundClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKFor over 20 years researchers have shown that our breath contains materials from our lungs and our mouths which are tell-tale signs of health or disease. This means that doctors could one day replace needle-based blood tests with simple breath tests. However, doing this in a consistent and reliable manner has proven too difficult until now, which is why this approach is not used at GP surgeries and hospitals. We have developed a new, simple, mass producible, but elegant device that addresses these specific issues by preventing the breath sample from being lost or contaminated. It is also designed to help collecting samples in a standardised manner. In our tests we were able to obtain results from the breath of healthy individuals that would be otherwise require surgery to collect. Unlike others trying to solve this problem, we are also able to analyse all types of materials in breath, not just smells. This would make for an exciting solution for a wide variety of human and animal diseases, and even nonmedical applications. However, by talking to clinicians, manufacturers and other users, it is clear we need to develop clinical data that convincingly show why our technology is useful and reliable. In this project we will therefore try to diagnose asthma in children under the age of 5, where it is currently impossible to diagnose the disease without severely invasive tests. A third of all children of this age will at some point need to be tested for wheeze or asthma, but no such test exists. We are therefore seeking support to: - Produce our device according to appropriate legal standards - Perform the clinical study. - Develop adaptations of the device for other kinds of customers. - Develop a business that can bring this product to the market, globally. By providing this support, we will be able to make the device available to researchers in as little as 18 months. We will be also able to develop a global business in the North East of England which, using the findings of researchers, will grow to serve multiple diseases and markets. In the long term, we hope to deliver the first hand-held, stand-alone device that can offer diagnosis from breath wherever this is needed.