题目：Taking your breath away … and analysing it – breathomics

授课时间：2018年3月21日周三13:30-15:00

授课地点：A01-N105

主讲人：莱斯特大学副校长，理工学院院长Professor Paul Monks

听课班级：莱斯特国际学院学院2017级本科生，欢迎其他师生参加

授课内容简介：

Can the smell of your breath tell you anything about how well you are? Your breath has literally thousands of compounds on it and they reflect the biochemistry taking place in your body. Measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) impacts areas as diverse as atmospheric composition and pollution studies, aroma analysis as well as medical diagnostics through breath analysis. Chemical Ionisation Reaction-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (CIR-ToF-MS) is a novel direct mass spectrometric technique capable of simultaneously monitoring multiple VOC species quantitatively and in near real-time. The CIR-MS technique (a more general version of proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) but utilising alternative chemical ionisation schemes) is based upon soft ionisation by a reagent species such as H₂O, NO or O₂and is capable of recording an entire mass spectrum in seconds. An increasing volume of literature is emerging based on the use of this type of mass spectrometry in breath analysis. This talk will look at application of a variety of analytical techniques for measurement of breath composition. For example, medical diagnoses and prognoses through CIR-ToF-MS measurements of breath may be possible using ‘air fingerprinting’ whereby spectra are recognised and compared with a library of breath phenotypes. The feasibility of deploying this technique will be discussed based upon already established breath tests conducted in the clinical environment along with future directions in CIR-MS as applied to breath analysis.