There is a growing need to improve the early diagnosis of lung cancer; non-invasive, quick and accessible assays would greatly aid in this. In this interesting interview, Robert Rintoul, PhD, FRCP, of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Cambridge, UK, discusses the exciting work that he is involved with, investigating volatile organic compounds in the breath in order to identify exhaled breath signatures for lung cancer. This work is being undertaken in the Lung Cancer Indicator Detection (LuCID; NCT02612532) study, a multi-centre prospective trial for lung cancer screening. Dr Rintoul gives an overview of the promising trial, which has recruited a large cohort, and highlights the utility of this type of test in determining whether borderline nodules identified on CT scans are cancerous. This video was recorded at the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG) Annual Conference 2018, held in Dublin, Ireland.