A brain stroke occurs when the flow of oxygen-rich blood to a portion of the brain is obstructed or when a blood vessel leaks or bursts. It is the second leading cause of death in Europe, and 60% of the survivors have different degrees of disability, with a socio-economic impact of the first magnitude for...
The recent technological breakthrough in cryo electron tomography (cryoET) opens to imaging, at close to atomic resolution, of macromolecular complexes in their native cellular context. This technique is seminal for a new field in Life Sciences referred to as cellular structural biology which is starting to shed light on how fine conformational states of protein...
The aim of this project is to develop a wearable sensing platform by integrating two emerging technologies: metamaterial sensors and piezoelectric polymers. Moreover, 3D printing techniques will be utilised to fabricate the platform for realizing versatile, cost-effective and personalised devices. The integration of electromagnetic metamaterials and piezoelectric smart materials onto one mechanically flexible platform has...
Biological processes at the interface of cell and developmental biology are highly dynamic and take place on several spatial and temporal scales. Methods allowing to visualise and quantify these processes across scales are becoming indispensable for modern biological and biomedical research and applications. Fluorescent microscopy has emerged as a powerful technique to acquire spatial and...
This project aims to develop a novel sensor concept for near-infrared (NIR) imaging and gamma-ray (x-ray) detection that leads to significant increase in the device performance in terms of sensitivity, accuracy and cost efficiency with respect to current technologies. As a starting point we have recently confirmed superior characteristics in UV radiation detection using specific...
The research project Echobrain aims to innovate in transcranial ultrasound (US) imaging. Indeed, brain echography could be much more accessible than the current used techniques Xrays or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) but remains challenging due to strong attenuation and aberration of the US beam when crossing the skull bone. The quality of transcranial echography can...
In Europe, the future climate predictions point towards a more frequent occurrence of severe, short and very local rain storms. In cities, with dense urbanisation and infrastructure (port, airport, highways, …), this shall lead to more frequent activities disruptions at street level. Insurers already report that weather-related natural threat and catastrophes are rising rapidly. It...
A universal detector for mass spectrometry and molecular science. Mass spectrometry is ubiquitous in science and technology, from medicine and pharmacy over security surveillance to research in chemistry and physics. It requires the preparation, filtering and detection of single molecular ions. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation (MALDI) and electrospray ionisation (ESI) are routinely used in the...
Light is a powerful tool to non-invasively probe scattering media for clinical applications. Time-domain (TD) technique relies on the injection of fast laser pulses and on the collection of the re-emitted photons though a single-photon detector. TD technique has 2 main advantages: i) disentangling scattering from absorption; ii) encoding the mean depth reached by the...
THz fingerprints of astronomical objects are of a great value as they offer insights into history of the Universe, formation and evolution of galaxies and their central supermassive black holes, and other fundamental questions raised by astrophysics. Detection and decoding of these ultra-weak signals currently rely on THz bolometers placed outside Earth atmosphere (e.g. Herschel...
Fetal surgeries are among the most complex surgical interventions because entail operating in location with difficult access, through an endoscopic instrument that reduces vision and manoeuvrability, there is usually a lack of information on what to expect inside the patient, time sensitivity and extreme fragility of the patient. Recent advances in medical imaging techniques, artificial...
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is currently being used to establish if a patient diagnosed with cancer has developed metastasis in other organs in the body. This test is therefore used to decide the type of procedure to follow, usually based on chemo – and radio – therapies, but not for preventive screening. This decision is...
We propose a compact imaging and particle-tracking device, named INSTANT, consisting of a complete detection and image processing system, from pixel sensors to data processing electronics. It provides very high time (10ps) and space (10μm) resolution per pixel. Embedded data processing for data compression and real-time reconstruction of the recorded events is also a key...
PHOTOQUANT aims at exploiting the potential of the emerging field of nano-photonics for developing a new generation of highly efficient and ultrafast single-photon quantum sensors. The project proposes two different approaches: the first will exploit the ability of nanometallic structures to concentrate light into subwavelength volumes, designing an interface layer between the light source and...
Chemical and structural imaging with nano resolution under ambient conditions are of utmost importance for advancing our understanding of biological processes at the sub-cellular level, which is needed for achieving a thorough understanding of severe diseases such as cancers, neurodegenerative or autoimmune disorders. These perspectives motived over the past decades a consistent body of work...
Ultra-high radiation levels (particle fluence up to 1018 part./cm2 and ionising dose up to 100 MGy), are expected in the next generation of High Energy Physics (HEP) colliders currently under study at CERN. State of the art solid-state devices for radiation and particle measurement (mainly passive devices or silicon-based active sensors) are not capable of...
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensors are one of the fundamental components of Internet of Things that aims at connecting every physical object to the cloud database for exchange of information and activities. Consequently, the development of low-cost, efficient, printable RFID sensors is a fundamental research domain for this future high-technology era. RFID is a powerful wireless...
Recent statistics report that more than 3.7 million new cases of cancer occur in Europe yearly, and according to the WHO the disease accounts for approximately 20% of all deaths. Cancer places enormous economic and psychological strains on the population. High throughput drug screening of cancer cell cultures has dominated the research screening for novel,...
Structural alongside functional smart materials play an important role in modern industry and technology. The behaviour of such materials is often governed by their structural properties. Knowledge on their specific grain formation and orientation is crucial for their development and use in prospective applications. Neutron diffraction plays a central role in the structural characterisation of...
MERMAID (Multi-Emission Radioisotopes – Marine Animal Imaging Device) proposes a unique imaging approach that opens the door to unexplored research paths in various disciplines. MERMAID will be the first dedicated imaging device for radioisotope imaging of small aquatic animals, thus paving the way to innovations in sustainable aquaculture and expanding the use of zebrafish as...
