The goal of FLASH (FLuorescence Analysis Speedup to extremely High rates) project is to develop a new detection system that combines single-photon sensitivity, picosecond temporal resolution, and unprecedented high throughput to acquire time-resolved fluorescence images. A similar system holds great promise to have a revolutionary impact on several fields of biology and medicine. For example,...
Quantum Simulators (QS) are systems that evolve a physical process obeying to the same constituent laws of quantum mechanics as the system under examination. While QS are still in their infancy, an industrial model would need a large degree of automation to address the hardware system calls, interpret results from measurements and perform recursive quantum...
SUGAR’s objective is the development of an augmented reality (AR) system for minimally-invasive robotic-assisted spinal surgeries. It is agreed that AR has potential to foster the adoption of minimally invasive surgery (MIS), but it suffers from technical problems for which no suitable solutions exist: insufficient tracking precision, complex workflows, low framerates and lack of visualisation...
This proposal aims at validating a novel readout concept for the front-end of 2D pixelated detectors that is under development by the ESRF and the University of Heidelberg under the name of digital integration. This new concept combines features of both photon-counting and charge-integrating techniques. It is particularly suitable for X-ray detectors that need to...
In RE-SENSE we propose a new approach to biosensing: the introduction of innovative computational modelling of gene expression to the “tailoring” and optimisation of synthetic biology pathways for whole-cell biosensor design, advancing the field significantly beyond its current state of the art. We will demonstrate the feasibility of this concept by enhancing the performance of...
We propose a new type of optimised and highly sensitive beta-imaging camera with active background rejection POSICS for radio-guided surgery (RGS) and potentially for many other applications. The RGS technique is used to help surgeons to locate precisely tumours, and minimise the surgical invasiveness thus improving patient life quality after the intervention. Currently, the beta-emitting...
The overall goal of PRINTBIO is to “domesticate” and to 3D print the electricity-producing bacteria from the genus Geobacter to convert this strain in à-la-carte bioelectrochemical biosensor using graphene-based screen printed electrode as electrochemical platform. Classical microbial biosensors require to engineer bacteria with an external module which contain the reporter protein responsible of the output...
Ion pollution in water causes a wide range of environmental and health problems across the world, including throughout Europe. The extent of the problem is growing, and there is, therefore, an urgent need to develop practical strategies to mitigate this pollution. This project will the latest advances in nanotechnology, to develop a new system to...
Malodours produced by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are an expanding concern as cities surround these facilities. Malodours lower citizens’ quality of life by undesired odour exposure and nuisance, and may negatively impact tourism. Odours are the main cause of pollution perception, together with dust and noise. In particular, WWTPs produce gaseous emissions that might be...
The ultimate goal of the project is to realise a new miniaturised and ultra-sensitive magnetometer that can be used in space on all kinds of platforms, including nanosatellites. This new magnetometer, called MAROT (Low noise MAgnetometeR based On Tunnel junctions), is based on improved magnetic tunnel junctions. Compared to state-of-the-art magnetometers used in space, this...
Fluorescence lifetime (FL) measurements are used to provide information on the molecular makeup of a sample. They can be used in a very wide range of applications, such as imaging of cell structures, tracking of antibodies and DNA sequencing in biology, detection of cancer cells in medicine and quality control in pharmacy. Typical techniques for...
We live in the information age where we rely on the creation, detection, and distribution of short light pulses forming the Internet. The demand for high data throughput has pushed the speed of laser modulators and detectors close to the 1 ps time limit. However, to reach these speeds, current telecom detectors require at least...
The H2I2 proposal aims at designing an innovative integrated imaging system that could disrupt the field of particle therapy by providing a lightweight, cost effective, and highly performant solution to the major challenges in precise delivery of the dose to the patient. Particle therapy is an advanced form of radiation therapy, which uses beams of...
Dementia is a devastating age-related disease with important public health challenges. Worldwide cost of dementia exceeds US$ 800 billion. Every 3 seconds a new case of dementia is diagnosed and the number of patients will almost double to 82 million by 2030. Up to 75% of patients with dementia have Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Accumulation of...
The aim of this project is to develop a new x-ray micro computed tomography (micro-CT) technique that will allow performing high-resolution scans with significantly less radiation dose than conventional machines. In the latter, dose generally increases cubically with increasing the spatial resolution; therefore, high-resolution scans require high doses. This means that such scans are not applicable to...
The ALL project is centred on bringing ground breaking adaptive liquid crystal lenses recently developed by the UPM to a state of maturity by which the technology can be transferred from the academic to an industrial environment for further development. The technology developed by the UPM, patent pending, is based on generating high performing lenses, with unprecedented tuning...
Air quality directly impacts our health and the health of the planet, yet it remains a matter of global and individual concern. Today, 91% of the world’s population live where atmospheric pollution reaches harmful levels and the average global temperature is on the rise, changing the climate in yet unknown ways. Cities are at the...
Natural gas (i.e. methane) is a key resource for the energy and fuel market of the next two decades. Above all, methane as a fossil fuel has a lower carbon footprint than coal and oil, so it is going to play a fundamental role in the transition to renewables. Furthermore, it can be easily replaced with biomethane....
The goal of the proposed project is to develop a differential mobility spectrometry-based technology for label-free molecular imaging and to pilot its applications in biological tissue analysis. Successful project would lay the foundation for widespread use of label-free molecular imaging that would revolutionise analysis of tissues by allowing large-scale adoption and realise unforeseen applications also outside the medical area....
One of the processes that are mostly exploited in particle detection is scintillation, whereby light in transparent media (organic or inorganic materials, including salts, gases, and liquids) is emitted following the absorption of ionising radiation. Scintillation is the result of a spontaneous decay, with relatively slow fluorescence decay time and isotropic emission. In this project...
