This project will investigate innovative ways to realise single photon visible light imagers for a number of applications in astronomy, quantum technologies, autonomous systems, and life sciences. The main objective is to create image sensor designs suitable for adaptive optics systems and low-light level spectroscopic and imaging applications, based on detailed semiconductor and technology device...
The project aims to develop a novel rapid spectral imaging microscopy technique and device in light of its expected unprecedented capability in cancer detection. It brings together the expertise of three research groups at two universities with years of experience in relevant fields. While common image acquisition provides only three values (RGB) for each pixel of the image,...
A high-resolution low-cost time-to-digital converter (TDC) technique has been developed utilising low-cost off-the-shelf field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. This TDC allows for the measurement of events to picosecond accuracies across many channels. A resolution of 1ps, an accuracy of 12ps RMS (single channel) and differential and integral nonlinearity figures of <±1 have been demonstrated, far...
The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is unique in its atomic resolution. The objective of the research is to develop an STM technique that will provide an NMR signal for each atom that the STM observe. This is possible using the hyperfine coupling between an electron which will be injected into the molecule and the nearby...
Harsh-environment sensors are key elements for the development of smart sensor networks. They enable extending the boundaries of such networks to the most inaccessible parts of human infrastructures. For the same reason, the design of harsh-environment sensors poses multiple material challenges, since these devices must survive in a hostile environment, while at the same time facilitate data acquisition...
This project is about a new and innovative screening technology called “iSLICE” (immuno Spot Layer Imaging of Cell Excretions) developed by InterFluidics at the Medical Cell BioPhysics group (MCBP) at the University of Twente and applies chip array and 3D-imaging technology. In iSLICE, a relevant panel of different secreted molecules will be detected as cytokines, interleukins, endocrines,...
Macular pigment is a yellowish pigment found at the central part of the retina of the human eye. It is believed to have two distinct roles: it protects the photoreceptors from photochemical damage by blocking high energy blue light, and it acts as an anti-oxidant, dealing with the harmful free radicals in the retina. It consists of three...
Micro-CT scanners create 3D images of small specimens’ X-ray attenuation. However, when attenuation is low, or there is little difference in attenuation between adjacent features, such scanners may provide insufficient image contrast. X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging (XPCI), originally introduced in synchrotron systems, is a method of imaging the refractive index of the specimen and is...
Positron emission tomography (PET) is used to non-invasively visualise and quantify cellular function and molecular processes in vivo. This enables better clinical decision making and health outcomes. PET is already used in clinical routine, for example in the treatment of cancer. One of the crucial performance parameters of a PET system is its sensitivity. This...
Life is more than the sum of its constituent molecules. It is dependent on the way these molecules interact and cooperate with each other, i.e., the way they are organised in self-sustaining chemical reaction networks. Understanding the general chemical organisation underlying living systems, and even more so the ability to have such systems emerge and evolve...
Diagnosis of epilepsy critically depends on electroencephalography (EEG) machines and specialists trained to manually characterise the acquired brain signals. Clinical-grade EEG machines are immobile, expensive, and rely on dedicated recording rooms where background noise and distractions are minimised and data is stored on servers. Globally, most people with epilepsy live in rural resource-poor areas where these diagnostic...
We aim to develop multilayer structures that alternate dielectric and metallic layers with nanoscale thickness for extremely high resolution imaging and optical sensing. Such structures constitute hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) that can act as super-lenses with a spatial resolution of some tens of nanometers, thus well below the diffraction limit. The layered geometry and fabrication, that...
The project is generically related to advanced optical microscopy and more particularly to fluorescence superresolution microscopy. For many years, optical microscopy has been troubled by an apparently insurmountable obstacle: the diffraction limit imposed by the wave nature of light, which restricts its capacity to resolve sample details below 200 nm, an increasingly inadequate size limit. It is then...
Microalgae biomass has a strong potential as alternative, 3rd generation non crop-based biofuel. Biofuel production from microalgal biomass also directly tackles the paramount problem of climate change: fuel produced from carbon fixation from atmosphere drastically cuts the CO2 footprint of energy production. The efforts to face scarcity of resources and climate change is even more important in the...
IMAGO project has the ambitious objective to develop nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a resolution down to the micron scale. Considering that currently, the resolution of clinical MRI is about 1mm while the intrinsic resolution of molecular diffusion MRI (DMRI) is about 10-20 micrometres, the technology proposed to represent a clear advance on the state of the...
Many aspects of modern life can be improved by rapid, non-contact identification of chemicals. To control and understand harmful gasses we need to detect transport emissions in real city environments and also map them across continents. To keep European citizens and infrastructure safe we need to be able to scan for traces of explosive or...
Sensor technology impacts almost all major technologies and new and improved sensor systems will continue to be needed in the future. This project will develop a new paradigm for ultra-high-speed laser manufacturing of low-cost novel micro- and nano-sensor structures and smart 2-D sensory materials that could be even flexible and wearable. These could lead to...
The Internet of Things (IoT) is widely predicted to cause a profound technological and societal transformation, on a par with the technological innovations of microelectronics and the internet that will underpin it. The number of IoT devices increased 31% year-on-year to reach 8.4 billion by 2017, and it is estimated that there will be in excess of...
The GP2 Module will be a state-of-the-art detector for imaging and 3D reconstruction within the emergent field of energy-resolved neutron imaging (ERNI). Neutron imaging is a well-established technique in which a beam of neutrons is used to record a radiograph of a sample, the neutronic equivalent to the familiar hospital x-ray of a broken bone. However, the full...
A challenge in cancer patient care is to monitor the response to treatment. Nowadays, most of the established approaches use tissue staining, which implies their invasive collection through, e.g., biopsies of the primary tumour. Patient follow-up therefore requires serial biopsies, making it very unpleasant for the patient. Alternatively, in vivo imaging approaches using MRI and...
