Detection of disease in the small airways and alveolar region of the lungs

Chronic respiratory disease is the third leading cause of death globally. It usually develops in the small airways or alveolar region of the lungs. Nevertheless, precise and accessible tools to diagnose disease in this part of the lung is currently lacking.

Hence, most of the cases remain unrecorded and are treated either incorrectly or too late.This project focus on a new methodology for measurement of the structural changes in small airways and alveoli: AiDA, Airspace Dimension Assessment. It is based on characterization of inhaled nanoparticles.

A measurement takes less than a minute to perform, and has been shown to be extremely precise in determination of alveolar dimensions in healthy volunteers.In this project, we will explore the potential of AiDA as a tool for diagnosis of chronic respiratory diseases.

The project has three aims: to investigate the ability of AiDA for phenotyping of COPD and for detection of remaining lung disease in post-Covid-19 patients; to obtain knowledge on the deposition of nanoparticles in the respiratory tract; to evaluate the toxicity of the nanoparticles used in AiDA.

The research includes clinical studies on patients, computational fluid dynamics and exposure of a 3D lung cell model and is a carried out in a collaboration between medicine, physics and toxicology.AiDA is cost-efficient, but yet very precise and easy to manage by patients. It thus has a potential to help millions of people globally that suffer from respiratory disease.