Researchers develop new respiratory disease test

Saskatoon, SK – A research team at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) is receiving funding of $235,000 to develop and commercialize a respiratory test and accompanying data analysis program to improve diagnosis of asthma and other respiratory diseases. The funding is being provided under the federal government’s Western Diversification Program.

The research is led by U of S medical researcher Dr. Darryl J. Adamko who focuses on clinical, research, and educational aspects of pediatric pulmonary diseases. His research focus has been within the field of asthma and in the last nine years, he has been the lead on team grants developing a novel way to diagnose and monitor patients with asthma using nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of urine. Based on this research, he is first author on a patent and director for a company called Respirlyte.

Doctors do not currently have access to reliable non-invasive means of determining many respiratory diseases and they instead rely on trial and error, which can lead to misdiagnoses, unnecessary expense, and negative health implications, especially in children. Using this new non-invasive urine-based test may lead to improving diagnosis and monitoring, and reduce unnecessary expense and negative health implications for respiratory patients.

“This exciting innovation in respiratory disease diagnosis led by Dr. Darryl Adamko and his team is an excellent example of how U of S medical researchers are making a real difference for patient health, while training the next generation of physicians in patient-oriented research approaches and developing new marketable health care technologies,” said Karen Chad, vice-president research, University of Saskatchewan.