Extending breath analysis to the cellular level: Current thoughts on the human microbiome and the expression of organic compounds in the human exposome

Once again, the IABR community has ventured successfully into the world of analytical instrumentation and technology at a PittCon meeting. This time, the focus was more on cellular respiration and how it affects biomarkers in different media; this is a logical extension of mainstream exhaled breath research as the cellular level can be adapted for high-throughput toxicity testing or for infectious disease diagnosis. The idea that emissions from the human microbiome can be used to assess health or perturbations in the human metabolome is powerful and merits continued study. We hope to pursue these topics for addressing preclinical effects of disease status, both from in vivo (breath or other media) analyses, and from in vitro cellular models as a measure of adverse outcome pathways that can be linked back to systemic effects in humans. We continue to encourage the readership to participate in breath research by reading new articles in JBR, by monitoring the IABR website and by participating in IABR, PittCon and other meetings that have breath-related sessions.