One of the high scientific ambitions of the Toxi-triage Consortium is the development of technology and methodology for quantitative measures of exposure to CBRN agents by analysis of volatile metabolites of exposure. These metabolites can be found in sample of breath or saliva and require advanced chemical measurement technology suitable for use in laboratories of poison centres and triage stations which are outside, yet near, the Warm Zone of a CBRN incident.
That challenge in this concept involves discovery of metabolites of injury, development of methods to automatically identify agents and calculate levels of exposure, and refinement of technology suitable to receive samples from casualties. Samples will be comprised of a complex mixture of volatile organic compounds from ordinary metabolic activity and from those associated with exposure.
One technology that meets requirements of advanced analytical performance, a high level of portability, and convenience of operation in demanding environments is gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS). The GC-IMS platform for point of care diagnostics within the Toxi-triage Consortium is the Breathspec from G.A.S. in Dortmund Germany.
