Quantum cascade laser system for real-time measurements of 12CO and 13CO carbon monoxide isotopoloques in exhaled breath

Project funded by Swedish Research Council (Project grant), grant 2013-06031_VR. Participating organisations named by the source: Umeå University. Funded amount: SEK 3,400,000, as stated by the source. Runs 2014-01-01 to 2017-12-31. Keywords: Naturvetenskap, Natural Sciences, Fysik, Physical Sciences, Atom- och molekylfysik och optik, Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics. Source: OpenAIRE Graph, from the funder's project data (collected by OpenAIRE on 2025-12-04); national funding data, not CORDIS. Abstract given by the source: Adverse health effects on lung and heart due to air pollution are a major cause of increased morbidity and mortality. The traditional medical methods to assess the effects of air pollution and severity of diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are invasive and time consuming. There is thus an increasing need for fast and non-invasive analysis of suitable biomarkers in exhaled breath. One of the most promising breath biomarkers is carbon monoxide (CO). However, established techniques for exhaled breath CO (eCO) analysis seem not to be able unlock the full potential of the biomarker. We propose the construction of a novel laser absorption spectrometer for online and real-time quantification of 12CO and 13CO in exhaled breath and ambient air. We also propose to use this analyzer together with collaborators in ongoing medical research to fundamentally advance the knowledge about eCO, the health effects of air pollution, and COPD. The compact instrument will employ a quantum cascade laser to access the strong CO absorption band in the mid-infrared, and modulation techniques for selective, accurate and calibration-free eCO quantification. Precise definition of the healthy population eCO baseline, ambient CO background subtraction, and real-time exhalation profiles will provide meaningful endogenous eCO concentrations. The benefits of using 13CO as stable isotope tracer and the 12CO/13CO isotope ratio as novel biomarker will be evaluated.

Original source.

Source: OpenAIRE Graph: projects of national funders, OpenAIRE, from the project data of Swedish Research Council. Retrieved 2026-10-28. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (OpenAIRE Graph). Selected metadata, adapted presentation; the publisher's record is authoritative. No endorsement by the source is implied. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).