Marshall Ligare, PhD | Outlier Technology, LLC; John Cowart Jr., PhD; Peter Gray, PhD; Brian Stahl, PhD; Will Pro, PhD
Competition Sponsor: National Academy of Medicine
Awardee Year: 2024
Recent insights into the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) have shown that the relative ratios of several metabolic byproducts in exhaled breath may serve as reliable diagnostic biomarkers for the disease, even distinguishing healthy individuals from those with preclinical AD. While such studies have highlighted the potential of breath-based biomarkers to revolutionize non-invasive early diagnostics for AD, they generally employ commercial Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) instrumentation repurposed for breath analysis, which is inherently challenged by convoluted, poorly resolved data from overlapping peaks and the lack of analysis software optimized for diagnosis. Moreover, the deconvolution and analysis of breath-based Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) data obtained from commercial GC-MS instruments is highly inefficient and expensive, which has 1) limited research into breath-based AD biomarkers and 2) impeded the adoption of this pioneering tool.
To unlock the full potential of a breath-based diagnostic approach, Outlier Technology is developing a low-cost desktop breathalyzer optimized for rapid, non-invasive diagnostics of AD. This proprietary device is rationally designed to isolate and identify relevant breath biomarkers and features user-friendly, multivariant analysis software that provides data correlating VOC biomarkers with a patient’s medical condition. This innovative analytical tool will be used by researchers and medical staff to significantly expand the current knowledge base on breath-based AD biomarkers and to supplement traditional diagnostic tests (cognitive, imaging, etc.) to enable affordable, convenient, regular screenings that support early identification of AD, which could play a critical role in future treatments seeking to prevent or delay the onset of clinical symptoms.