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Breath can tell a lot about a person
By JIM KELLY
Thursday, May 3, 2007

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Dr. Brian Ross is seen with a sampler that can measure the amount of gas in breath, which in turn can reveal illness in a person.

Diagnosing a disease may be just a breath away.
Lakehead University‘s Brian Ross and his team of researchers are currently developing screening tests that someday may lead to the early detection of lung cancer and other disorders.
And it will be done by measuring chemical markers in human breath via a breathalyzer test.
The breathalyzer, called a Selected Ion Flow Mass Spectrometer, is the only one of its kind in Canada.
FedNor contributed the $350,000 to buy the machine while the Northern Cancer Research Foundation provided $100,000 for the project.
“This is quick and non-invasive,” Ross said in an interview Thursday at the research lab.
“People who are ill can simply breathe into it and this may indicate the need for further tests,” he said.
In a demonstration of the machine, Ross said his breath sample and that of a reporter showed no signs of diabetes.
Simply stated, a subject slowly breathes into a long tube leading into the machine and a chart is produced on the screen of a laptop computer which tells the operator whether or not a disease is present.
There is also hope for people with bad breath.
The machine will be able to determine what chemicals are produced to cause bad breath and that could lead to a treatment.
Ross said his research is being carried out in concert with Dr. Dimitrios Virgidis, head of oncology at Regional Cancer Care.
Ross said the machine is unique in that there are only three similar types in the world. The others are found in Austria, England and the Czech Republic.
He said it could be as long as five years before the machine is perfected so that it can be used by health care professionals.
The technology is also being used at Lakehead University to research the effects of air pollution, to improve workplace health and safety, and to identify new medicinal compounds produced by plants.
Ross is an associate professor of pharmacology at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine‘s Lakehead campus. He is also an adjunct professor of chemistry at the university.
His areas of expertise include biochemistry, nutrition, neuroscience and pharmacology.
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