Techniques such as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Loop-mediated isothermal AMPlification (LAMP) have been used for many years to selectively amplify and detect specific sequences of DNA or RNA.  Both rely on short DNA sequences to recognize and bind with known target sequences, and both use polymerase enzymes to exponentially replicate the target sequences.  PCR is considered the gold standard for detection of known pathogens, among many other uses, and LAMP has grown in popularity due to its versatility.

Exhaled Breath Condensate (EBC) is an excellent sample matrix for use in molecular amplification techniques such as PCR and LAMP.  Because EBC consists primarily of water distilled from breath, it is extremely clean and typically free of inhibitors.  Many PCR and LAMP assays operate uninhibited with a composition of 50% or more EBC.  This allows large volumes of sample to be added to the assay without purification steps.

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Molecular amplification techniques are also well suited to EBC samples due to their high level of sensitivity.  Many PCR assays reliably detect and quantify as little as a single copy of a target nucleic acid.  This sensitivity enables accurate detection of pathogens or other sources of nucleic acids with a short, comfortable breath sample [3].  LAMP methods also frequently detect within single digit counts of nucleic acid targets and may give results within 10 minutes.  This rapid turnaround time complements the speed and ease of VosBio’s breath collection technology, allowing testing from sample to result to be completed in under 15 minutes.