3D Printed Fibre Sensors for Breath-Borne Biomarker Detection

Exhaled breath is an emergent non-invasive biological medium for the detection of biomarkers in the pulmonary tract. Studies of exhaled breath originally aimed to understand the transmission of airborne infections. Exhaled breath represents an important matrix in detection technologies for future medical diagnostics. The purpose of the project is to develop a new method for the detection of biomarkers in breath exploiting the use of 3D printed fibre sensors. This will provide a new, rapid, non-invasive, on-site and point-of-care medical diagnostic tool. A proof of concept will be conducted by monitoring the response of a iFP PEDOT:PSS fibre array sensor attached to a disposable mask before and after ingestion of a food supplement. Attention will be paid on fabricating different cross-junctioned fibers - 3D layered architectures for specific targets of interest. The proposed method aims to identify patterns of targets as a "fingerprint" for each specific clinical condition.