BIOFOS

Micro-ring resonator-based biophotonic system for food analysis

ICCS/NTUA will coordinate and provide the administrative and project management of BIOFOS as well as the technical management of two work-packages. ICCS/NTUA will be involved with the definition of the system and component specifications, the design of the photonic components and the photonic circuit, the direct immobilization of the bio‐mediators, the regeneration process of aptamers, the development of the sensor electronics and the evaluation of the sensor system in lab and field trials.

LioniX will develop the optical waveguide based detectors and the related microfluidic glass component (design and testing, production of prototypes, technology development and optimization). They will also provide specific contributions to system architecture by its Lab‐on‐a‐Chip system engineering expertise.

CSEM will work on the development of the compact system for solid and liquid sample pretreatment and transfer to microfluidic cartridge and the complete system integration and packaging.

UPVD will be in charge of the selection of oligonucleotides specific to the targeted estrogenic compounds and will work on the production of new aptameric sequences against Aflatoxin M1, Phosmet insecticide, and antibiotics, based on UPVD expertise with the SELEX.

BRFAA will be involved in the design and modification of the biotransducer elements and the functionalization of the sensor surfaces for the covalent immobilization of the biomolecules. The group will work on the regeneration of the sensors as well as the characterization of the fabricated sensors by direct laser printing and by photoactivation of alkenes.

Surfix will work on the scale‐up of the alkene-based surface modification, i.e. from one‐chip modifications to full‐wafer modifications. The group will focus on the development of a selective surface modification protocol, which will ultimately allow selective coating reactions of the Si3N4 waveguide, without reacting the surrounding silicon oxide.

WU will focus on the alkene‐based surface modification and the understanding of these grafting reactions. The group will develop top‐functionalized zwitterionic polymer brushes to immobilize aptamers onto the biosensor device and in combination with Surfix’ protocol for selective surface modifications, to achieve spatially selective attachment of aptamers onto the waveguides.

IRTA will design and verify the trials on oil, nuts and milk, in order to check the performance of the biosensors. IRTA is going to compare results from both biosensors and standard lab technics for aflatoxins, ochratoxin, antibiotics, metals and insecticides and will prepare special samples where contamination can be forced and then tested in lab. IRTA has a wide activity in transferring technology to producers and industries and it will collaborate to spread the results from this project through these groups.

The contribution of Saxion will primarily be based on testing basic functionality of the produced sensors and assisting Lionix in the assembly of the Flip‐Chip \ Butt‐end coupling of the sensor chips. Saxion will test the functionality of the assembly of the MRR sensor array both in optical and electrical domain, e.g. testing the optical sensitivity of the MRR, effectiveness of the splitting ratio over the arrays, SNR, VCSEL characteristics and photodiode (array) response.

COVAP will provide their installations for industrial trial of prototype developed within the project. In addition, they will also provide their knowledge and skills in milk production.