Strongly associated with the epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) that are testing healthcare systems worldwide, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is an increasingly common cause of advanced liver disease in the aging population of Europe. NAFLD is a spectrum of hepatic fat accumulation (steatosis); steatosis plus inflammation (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, NASH); fibrosis/cirrhosis; and hepatocellular carcinoma in the absence of high alcohol consumption. Up to 30% of the EU population have NAFLD, which will be the main aetiology underlying liver transplants by 2020. However, NAFLD is characterized by substantial inter-patient variability in severity and rate of progression. What determines this is unknown. A large population is at risk, but only some experience morbidity. NAFLD severity is currently best assessed by liver biopsy, an invasive, costly and risky procedure - factors that hinder treatment. There is a need to understand the biological and environmental factors that drive inter-patient variability and to develop robust and more acceptable methods for diagnosis, risk stratification and therapy so that effective medical care may be targeted to those that will benefit most. The overall EPoS concept is that improved understanding of pathogenic processes and drivers of disease progression will best be achieved when multiple ‘omics’ approaches are applied to a single cohort of patients to build a multi-dimensional record of how systems are perturbed across the entire spectrum of disease. NAFLD sits at the intersection of key biological processes: carbohydrate/lipid homeostasis, immune/inflammatory activation, wound healing/fibrosis and cancer biology. Once completed, EPoS promises to deliver a substantial and definitive atlas of pathophysiological variation across a spectrum of progressive liver disease. Translation of these findings will therefore impact on closely related pathologies including T2DM and cardiovascular disease.

The diagnosis and management of acute Sepsis is a critical area where fast and accurate results can translate into life changing health outcomes for individuals. The overall aim of RAIS is to develop a new point-of-care label-free microarray platform and validate it for quantifying levels of specific Sepsis’ biomarkers. The approach uses a novel interferometric technique ultimately capable of providing very large arrays of tests. Specific objectives and activities include: (i) an optical microarray reader based on a disruptive proprietary design combining interferometric lens-free microscopy and proximity CCD or CMOS image sensing; (ii) a microarray plate, in a proper microfluidic cartridge, consisting of a transparent slide with a novel nano-structured surface geometry to increase the detection sensitivity and covered by specific receptors to capture bio-markers; (iii) their integration in a portable and battery powered label free microarray platform potentially capable of measuring more than 1 million bio-targets simultaneously. The developed technology will be capable to detect micro-ribonucleic acids (microRNAs), interleukins and other specific proteins associated to Sepsis using a few microliters of blood or serum samples, in a concentration of a few pg/ml, within 30 minutes (sample to result) and at a cost per patient of less than 50€. In this way, patients will be put on the right treatment more rapidly, potentially reducing the Sepsis mortality rate of more than 70%, with estimated cost savings of more than €10 billion per year as a consequence of shorter hospital stays, reduced use of unnecessary drugs and lower associated insurance bills. The technical approach, targeted device, application and the addressed market sector are perfectly in line with the call H2020-ICT-2014-1 - Photonics KET - Biophotonics for screening of diseases: Mobile, low-cost point-of-care screening devices for reliable, fast and non- or minimally-invasive detection of diseases.