INTOPSENS - photonic biosensors for whole blood sepsis diagnostics

Intopsens develops a highly integrated optical sensor for point of care label free identification of sepsis bacteria strains and their antibiotic resistance.

2008–2011

Full title: "Intopsens – A highly integrated optical sensor for point of care label free identification of sepsis bacteria strains and their antibiotic resistance".

Sepsis is a bacterial infection in the blood. It is a life-threatening condition, characterized by multi-organ failure. In the EU alone, sepsis claims ~146,000 lives/year and is responsible for EUR 7.6 billion/year health care costs.

InTopSens is a multidisciplinary project involving the emerging fields of photonics structures, electronics, fluidics and bio-chemistry, to contribute to the development of high value sensor technology for a fast and low-cost diagnosis of sepsis.

This objective will be addressed through the demonstration of a compact polymer and silicon-based CMOS-compatible photonics sensor system. It integrates two label-free biomolecular recognition photonic sensor technologies with sensitivities as low as 0.1ng per ml, state-of-the-art in label-free integrated optical biosensors, with novel coupling technology that will permit very high integration of hundreds of sensing areas on a 1mm2 photonics chip.

The novel diagnostic technology of the InTopSens device has the potential to be fast and easy to use, making routine screening or monitoring of bacteria more cost-effective. The ultimate target of InTopSens is to demonstrate the feasibility of a rapid diagnostic test for sepsis at “point of care” in the intensive care unit environment.