Dental Lab Products Tech Guide 2008 - (Page 10) techtomorrow DISEASE DETECTION a broad spectrum of compounds in Jun Ye in his laboratory at JILA at the University of Colorado, Boulder. the breath simultaneously and interpret the complexity and composition of their makeup allows efficient and reliable analysis and diagnosis in pinpointing a particular disease. ”The amount of information gathered with this approach was previously unimaginable,” commented Ye. ”It’s like being able to see every single tree of an entire forest. ” To use the device, a person breathes into a tube into which a laser is shining. Mirrors positioned around the tube reflect the laser light many times through the breath sample to enhance the detection of compounds. The laser signal bounces off the different chemicals in the breath sample, and the device detects the unique light signals of specific compounds. and at what concentration. Known as optical frequency comb spectroscopy, gen, carbon monoxide, water vapor, and a rich mixture of other gases. Typical exhaled breath contains less oxygen, more carbon dioxide, and a collection of more than a thousand varieties of other chemical molecules, most of which are present in only trace amounts. These trace amounts of ammonia, methane, or acetone are precisely what Ye is looking for. In certain concentrations, they may be the biological fingerprint of a disease like renal failure, liver and kid- The future Ye’s discovery has yet to be tested in clinical trials, but already a number of companies have contacted him about their interest in commercial development of his laser technique for use with patients. The technology may have other important applications such as in chemistry labs, environmental monitoring stations, security screening sites, and even wineries—anywhere monitoring the air is an important element to the safety of the product or population. For medical and dental uses, much work remains to be done. There are few, if any, catalogued benchmarks or biomarkers for diseases. Research still needs to be done on the specific biomarkers for healthy individuals, individuals with each disease, different stages of that disease, and biomarkers relevant to patient age and gender. What is most exciting to Ye is that this technology has the potential to be used for very early detection of health problems long before any symptoms are noticeable to the patient. lab What is JILA? JILA (jilawww.colorado.edu) is a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Founded in 1962, JILA is one of the nation’s leading research institutes in the physical sciences. The institute’s scientific research encompasses seven categories: astrophysics, atomic and molecular physics, biophysics, chemical physics, nanoscience, optical physics, and precision measurement. the technique is powerful enough to distinguish rare molecules that may be biomarkers for specific diseases. The optical frequency comb laser is a very precise tool for measuring different colors, or frequencies, of light. Each comb line, or ”tooth,” is tuned to a distinct frequency of a particular molecule’s vibration or rotation, and the comb covers a broad spectral range— much like a rainbow of color-—that “OUR RESEARCH IS UNDERTAKEN AT THE ABSOLUTE FRONTIERS OF LIGHT AND MATTER INTERACTION.” can identify thousands of individual molecules. Ye likens the concept to turning the dial on a radio to pick up different radio stations broadcasting on separate radio frequencies. ney disease, diabetes, or even periodontal disease. Before Ye’s use of optical frequency comb spectroscopy, breath analyzing equipment could only detect one biomarker, such as ammonia, at a time. However, the presence of a single species of molecules in the breath could be an indicator of a number of different diseases. The ability to analyze You are what you exhale When breathing, you inhale a complex mixture of gases from the air including oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitro- 10 techguide2008 dentallabproducts http://jilawww.colorado.edu
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