The aim of the PoC-ID project is to develop new micro- and nanoelectronic-based sensing and integration concepts for advanced miniaturised in vitro diagnostic devices. The project addresses the increasing demand for rapid and ultra-sensitive point-of-care diagnostics to reduce healthcare costs and increase the quality of life with a focus on infectious diseases, one of the world’s leading causes of morbidity and death. Interdisciplinary collaboration using the technology and expertise of the consortium members will be applied to develop and test a breakthrough PoC prototype for the diagnosis of respiratory syncytial virus infections and host responses in the paediatric context. PoC-ID will enable new types of point-of-care diagnostics for virtually any type of complex liquid sample. Applications are disease diagnosis, monitoring of therapeutic responses, clinical research of pathogen-host interaction and personalised medicine. The platform technology can easily be adapted to a variety of diagnostic or biosensing purposes, such as in health/environmental monitoring or food quality testing. PoC-ID will combine the detection of both pathogens and host responses leading to more accurate diagnosis as compared to the current standard which is focused on detection of pathogens only. This novel approach will support prevention and control of pathogen spread and enable faster and more personalised patient treatment. Improved performance in terms of robustness, sensitivity and selectivity will be reached by a combination of innovative nanomembrane technology, molecular engineered capture molecules and two novel sensing concepts. Further advances will be realised in terms of usability and speed of data-analysis arising from the integration of sensors, read-out electronics and microfluidics into one user friendly point-of-care (PoC) platform. Costs of the new disposable sensors will be ultra-low at high volumes, thanks to designing into microelectronics production flows.

Mercene Labs is a Swedish SME with expertise in material design for adhesion and surface control developing products that benefit quality of life worldwide through creating unique solutions based on our proprietary Ostemer™ polymer platform. Our newest product Synthetic Paper comes from an urgent industry need to increase the performance of point-of-care (PoC) medical diagnostic tests by finding better alternatives to the traditional paper-based lateral flow products currently in use. Improvements in the performance of lateral flow assays could lead to more rapid clinical decision making and timely interventions with appropriate treatments as well as more personalized healthcare benefiting millions of patients worldwide. Synthetic Paper provides superior material properties in terms of repeatability in geometry and surface energy while being able to directly replace nitrocellulose strips in current readers while utilizing the existing POC readers and infrastructure. Currently Mercene Labs is able to provide Synthetic Paper in A4 sheets with a native (untreated) surface, as well as surfaces modified for specific liquid flow speed. However, manufacturers of PoC tests are used to purchasing test strip material that is ready for antibody bonding. The feasibility study, performed under this SME Phase 1 project, will focus adding to the product offering by modifying the surface to offer customers a higher value product. Additionally, the feasibility study will focus on developing a pricing strategy and a business model for Synthetic paper.