Our Breath Is Trying To Tell Us Something

In an ideal world, a child with cystic fibrosis would never develop lung infections. A 30-year-old construction worker would never have to worry that each breath he takes on the job might one day choke the life out of him. But our world isn’t always ideal.

And in the real world, lungs can tell a painful truth.

They can whisper early warnings about our health. And for decades, we haven’t been listening closely enough.  But that’s changing, with the help of science and innovation.

The Hidden Battle in Every Breath

Across two very different fronts—genetic disease and occupational exposure—scientists are discovering the same truth: our breath is a battlefield, and it holds secrets about what’s happening deep within us.

In February, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation announced a $2.3 million investment into Owlstone Medical to develop a breath test for the early detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa—a bacterium that silently colonizes the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis. Once Pseudomonas takes hold, it’s notoriously difficult to eradicate, leading to chronic lung damage and reduced life expectancy. Catch it early, and you stand a chance. Catch it late, and the damage is done.

Owlstone’s work appears to show promise. Rather than requiring patients—often children—to cough up sputum for testing, which can be nearly impossible if they’re on mucus-clearing CFTR modulators, the company analyzes volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the breath to identify infections. It’s completely non-invasive and might prove to be a game-changer.

Breath Diagnostics’ technology could also potentially achieve a similar outcome—detecting specific infection markers early through VOCs—but relies on a faster process. Instead of using GC-MS (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry), which can take 30 to 60 minutes or longer, Breath Diagnostics employs an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) approach. From just one exhalation, the sample is captured on a specialized microchip, and UHPLC analysis can deliver results in about 10 minutes.

This speed advantage was underscored by a recent porcine pneumonia study using our technology, in which our Chief Medical Officer was able to successfully develop a clinical pneumonia in adult 60-kg pigs. The concentration a specific VOC correlated with the presence of pneumonia, demonstrating the potential for this compound to function as a biomarker for methicillin-sensitive S. aureus infection in pigs.

Pneumonia remains a significant source of morbidity and mortality in the cardiothoracic patient population. Early diagnosis and initiation of adequate antibiotic therapy are crucial in treating pulmonary infection and minimizing complications. There are many potential advantages to using a rapid, non-invasive method of analyzing exhaled breath for volatile organic compounds in a clinical setting—although further investigation is required to confirm these findings beyond the animal model. A study has been initiated in intubated patients to determine whether this technology can identify markers correlating with ventilator-associated pneumonias, and we expect results of this in the coming months.

Although we focused on a different disease model, the rapid, single-breath sampling and UHPLC detection suggest that our platform, like Owlstone’s, may be a non-invasive solution capable of transforming how we diagnose respiratory infections.

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, researchers in Sydney are racing against a different clock. Cases of silicosis, a preventable but incurable disease caused by inhaling fine silica dust, are rising among workers not just in stone masonry but now tunneling, construction, and tiling.

In response, a team at UNSW developed a rapid, AI-powered breath test that identifies silicosis before it appears on an X-ray. Just one breath into a device. Five minutes. No radiation. No delay. In a pilot study, the test distinguished silicosis patients from healthy individuals with over 90% accuracy.

Hero Against Nature

Both stories—the breath test for Pseudomonas, and the one for silicosis—are examples of humanity squaring off against a once invisible, internal enemy. Similarly, it’s a mission we at Breath Diagnostics wake up thinking about every single day.

Like Owlstone and the UNSW team, we believe the breath holds clues far earlier than conventional diagnostics. But unlike many existing methods, which require 15–30 minutes of breath collection and sample heating—procedures that risk degrading the very biomarkers we’re trying to study—our OneBreath™ platform captures and chemically transforms VOCs.

No heat. No degradation. Just one breath.

Why Breath Analysis Matters Now

Breath diagnostics is not far-off futuristic science. It’s being worked on in laboratories across the world right now. The science is unfolding in real time, and though no breath diagnostics device has yet been commercialized—ours included—we are rapidly building the evidence to hopefully make that day come sooner rather than later.

Why now? Because current testing methods for diseases like lung cancer—the very disease we’re working to detect early—just aren’t good enough. They’re often too invasive, too expensive, or have low patient compliance. There’s a clear need for better diagnostics. And we believe breath analysis can be the answer.

What We're Doing at Breath Diagnostics

At Breath Diagnostics, we’re aiming to develop OneBreath™ into a scalable, high-precision platform to bring the power of VOC detection into the clinic.

Unlike other systems that rely on heating and long analysis times, our patented derivatization process captures and stabilizes VOCs instantly. These stabilized biomarkers are then analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) in under 10 minutes.

It’s fast. It’s reliable. And it could lead to a future where breath tests are not only trusted—but even more routine than a blood draw.

At Breath Diagnostics, our mission isn’t just to build a breath-based diagnostic tool for lung cancer. It’s to pioneer a faster, less invasive way to detect disease early—before symptoms appear— and with a simple exhale.