Departmental Affiliations
Research Interests
Environmental Health Sciences, tissue injury and disease; liver and kidney cellular injury; oxidative stress in humans, obesity, breath biomarkers of disease, breath biomarkers of tissue injury, breath biomarkers of exposure, molecular basis of lung injury, airborne particulate matter, phagocytosis
Experiences & Accomplishments
Dr. Risby's research stresses the development of novel, highly sensitive analytical chemical approaches used as non-invasive biomarkers of tissue injury and disease, with primary application to the clinical setting. His laboratory has developed breath markers of biosynthesis of cholesterol, liver function and liver disease, and nutritional status. He has applied these techniques to human subjects of all ages, and in a variety of clinical situations, as, for example, in the premature infant and in patients undergoing transplantation surgery. More recently, he has initiated studies that are using his developed biomarkers of tissue injury to investigate the effects of exposure to environmental toxicants.
Dr. Risby's laboratory has a long-standing research interest in the inhalation of airborne particles with particular reference to emissions from mobile sources. The focus of these studies has been the development of theoretical models that can be used to predict the formation of airborne particulate matter and the subsequent release of adsorbed pollutant molecules in pulmonary surfactant and/or inside pulmonary phagocytic cells. These studies continue through investigations that are aimed at understanding the relationship between the physicochemistry of pollutant-particle complexes and the molecular biology of phagocytic and pulmonary epithelial cells.
Select Publications
Amann A, de Lacy Costello B, Miekisch W, Schubert J, Buszewski B, Pleil J, Ratcliffe N and Risby T. The human volatilome: volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath, skin emanations, urine, feces and saliva, J. Breath Res. 2014, 8, 034001
Amann A, Miekisch W, Schubert J, Buszewski B, Ligor T, Jezierski T, Pleil J, Risby T. Analysis of exhaled breath for disease detection. Ann Rev Anal Chem, 2014. 7:455–82
Solga S, Mudalel M, Spacek L, Lewicki R, Tittel F, Loccioni C, Russo A, Ragnoni A, Risby T. Changes in the Concentration of Breath Ammonia in Response to Exercise: A Preliminary Investigation
Risby T, Pleil J. CSI Breathprint, Analytical Scientist, March 2014, 20-21.
Cristescu S, Kiss R, te Lintel Hekkert S, Dalby M, Harren F, Risby T, Marczin N. Real-time monitoring of endogenous lipid peroxidation by exhaled ethylene in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. AJP Lung. 2014, 307, L50915.