ORGBIO · Organic Bioelectronics

Organic Bioelectronics

Organic Bioelectonics is a new discipline which holds promise to shape, direct, and change future medical treatments in a revolutionary manner over the next decades. Many of the world-leading groups in this field are located in Europe. OrgBio leveraged this dominant position to train the next generation of leaders in the field. The S&T programme included inter/multi-disciplinary activities that encompassed the design, realization and application of biosensing systems starting from the synthesis/deposition of active layers endowed with highly selective properties through bio-functionalization and surface treatments, their characterization, and the realization of sensing devices with enhanced sensitive transduction principles. The research activities concentrated at the interface of the organic components and the biological systems, where novel concepts were developed. Using electrical signals to interact with biological systems helped us to gain insights into different fundamental signalling principles of living organisms. Devices were implemented into systems and applications useful for a broad spectrum of biomedical and life science applications. Using different types of sensors, actuators, electronic and interconnect technologies, OrgBio developed multifunctional systems based on organic devices and materials with high sensitivity that are also flexible, conformable and present over large areas. A variety of training activities were made available to the ESRs including: • Four training schools, in which the Orgbio ESRs received training on various areas of organic bioelectronics by scientists of international calibre. The first and fourth of these schools were organized at partner sites of the University of Bari (Italy) and at the Ecole des Mines de St. Etienne (France), respectively. The second and third schools were organized in conjunction with the international conferences Nanotechnology 2015 (Thessaloniki, Greece) and BioEl 2016 (Kirchberg, Austria). Among the external to OrgBio lecturers were Nobel laureate Prof. Alan Heeger (Santa Barbara, USA), Prof. Andreas Offenhauser (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany), Prof. Tsuyoshi Sekitani (Osaka, Japan), Prof. Jose Garrido (Barcelona, Spain), Dr. Daniel Chew (GlaxoSmithKline, UK), Prof. Paul Meredith (Queensland, Australia), Prof. Tzahi Cohen-Karni (Carnegie Mellon, USA), Prof. Nick Melosh (Stanford, USA), and Prof. Yael Hanein (Tel Aviv, Israel), Prof. Alberto Salleo (Stanford University, USA), Prof. Sahika Inal (KAUST, Saudi Arabia), Prof. Zhenan Bao (Stanford University, USA). • A hands-on training session in bioelectronics. This was organized by the coordinating site (Ecole des Mines de St. Etienne, France) following requests from ESRs. It was not included in the original proposal. The program consisted of laboratory work (device fabrication and characterization) coupled with lectures from faculty from the coordinating site. The industrial partner Nanion brought their planar patch clamp instrument and provided training of the ESRs on this technique. • Four workshops focused on building knowledge beyond the technical realm, ranging from the cultivation of soft skills to entrepreneurship. They included modules on “How to get your work published”, “Tips to great public speaking”, “How to write a post-doctoral grant”, “Project Management”, “Designing value propositions”, “Exploring customer segments”, “Pitching”, “Lessons from an entrepreneurial scientist, an inventor, a startup employee, and a business founder”. The ESRs achieved the following scientific highlights: • They selected and synthesized a variety of new materials for bioelectronics, including conducting polymer films and nanotubes, ionogels and nanocomposites. • The fabricated and tested a variety of devices including transistor-based biosensors, controlled delivery devices, polymer valves, pressure sensors, cytometers. • They developed fabrication techniques to render these devices mechanically flexible. • They probed and modelled the fundamental phenomena underlying the operation of these devices. • They demonstrated novel biosensor concepts and circuits for diagnostics, including label-free, non-invasive, and cell-based monitoring. Overall, this was a successful project that achieved its deliverables, educated a new generation of future leaders in the field, produced high calibre research, and brought together the European groups leading the field of Organic Bioelectronics. The midterm review highlighted the fact that “the implementation of the project is exemplary”. www.orgbio.eu

Data: CORDIS, © European Union