Elevated ammonia levels are toxic and can be fatal. This occurs in a rage of diseases, including liver disease and metabolic disorders. There is no effective way of monitoring ammonia levels outside of the hospital. AmBeR is a non-invasive diagnostic technology for monitoring systemic ammonia It measures ammonia levels in breath. AmBeR is being developed for use in the clinic and the home of patients with Urea Cycle Disorders, where its benefits to patient well-being are being studied.

Prof. Tony Killard is Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at BreathDX (UK) Ltd. He also holds the Chair of Biomedical Sciences at the University of the West of England (UWE) and Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Diagnostics at Dublin City University. He received his BA(Mod) Natural Sciences in Microbiology at Trinity College, Dublin in 1993 and his PhD in Biotechnology at Dublin City University (DCU) in 1998. He was Principal Investigator at the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, DCU in 2005, until his appointment to the Chair of Biomedical Sciences at UWE. He co-founded BreathDX in January 2015 to exploit novel breath diagnostic technologies.

 

Tony has a 20 year record of innovation, research and technological development, particularly in electroactive materials and electrochemical sensors, their development through to technology demonstration and commercial exploitation. He is an inventor on eight patent families and has licensed several sensor and diagnostic technologies. He is the inventor of the AmBeR breath diagnostic technology.

BreathDX (UK) Ltd. is a technology company built to lead the charge in the surging market of breath analysis and diagnosis. Human breath contains a wealth of analytes and thus data to measure health, disease progression and potential threats to future wellbeing. Breath is a non-invasive alternative to blood testing. The key task is to unlock this data by measuring analytes, often at minute concentrations within the heat and moisture of our breath.

 

Ammonia is a very important chemical in breath that is linked with a range of known and likely conditions. Accurately and easily detecting ammonia in breath is essential for doctors making clinical decisions, patients living with conditions or those researching the many processes involving the metabolism of ammonia. Existing ammonia breath diagnostic solutions are typically specific to diseases, complicated, have a high cost and are not suited to point-of-care or high-volume testing.

 

BreathDX's patented and patent-pending AmBeR® device is a flexible-cost, clinically relevant solution, ideal for point-of-care use. AmBeR® will address a broad range of market opportunities in which ammonia measurement and monitoring is required.