A breathalyzer for sleep apnea diagnosis
Last summer in Vienna, Austria, Engineering Professor Perena Gouma delivered a plenary talk at the International Meeting on Chemical Sensors (IMCS) on a sleep apnea sensor. This summer her findings were featured in the American Chemical Society Bulletin.
Isoprene is one of hundreds of organic compounds in human exhaled breath. Based on medical literature and conversations with her medical colleagues, Gouma proposed that breath isoprene could be a biomarker signaling wakefulness.
Gouma used hexagonal tungsten trioxide as the sensing element, which demonstrated the ability to detect and discriminate among various isoprene concentrations in the range of 300 ppb to 1 ppm and above-the range of interest for the targeted application.
A previous study conducted by the Institute for Breath Research in Austria revealed that healthy adults who are awake have an isoprene level of 1.43 ppm. When asleep, their isoprene levels increased to 3 ppm or more. The fast response, high sensitivity, and noninvasive nature of Gouma's isoprene detector suggests that it can potentially be used as a diagnostic tool for sleep apnea.
Elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2016, Gouma has authored or co-authored over 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has 18 patents involving nanomaterials, photocatalysts, sensors, and breathalyzers.
with contributions from Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering