Legionnaires’ disease is a serious form of pneumonia caused by bacterium Legionella pneumophila, with a case-fatality ratio on the order of 10-15%. L. pneumophila proliferates in aquatic habitats, especially in potable water, air conditioning, hot and cold water systems, cooling towers, evaporative condensers, spa/natural pools. Actually, its detection and monitoring rely on time-consuming protocols (in the order of several days) based on in-vitro selective bacteria culture methods, performed by highly specialized personnel in dedicated laboratories. POSEIDON project targets to change the approach in bacteriological environmental monitoring and in infection risk management by developing a fully automatic and reliable system. Handling of the air/water sample will be designed and integrated in preconditioning system and microfluidic device through which whole bacteria cells will be transported from the sampling module to the sensing plasmonic surface. The complete measure protocol will be integrated and performed according to EU legislation guidelines. Specificity will be ensured by immuno-functionalization of gratings surfaces and enhanced system sensitivity will be granted by the optimization of the optical detection system architecture. Sensors based on Grating Coupled Surface Plasmon Resonance (GC-SPR) in azimuthally rotating configuration have recently proved sensitivity enhancement up to almost two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the symmetry breaking related to grating rotation allows exploiting the incident polarization, more easily controlled with respect to incidence wavelength and angles interrogation. The prototype will be designed to be integrated in water distribution or HVAC systems in order to demonstrate its feasibility in industrially relevant fields and to open new applications and new market opportunities. POSEIDON project aims to address new solutions in this relevant health and safety societal challenge.

The function of a lower limb prosthetic is highly dependent upon the characteristics and anatomical profile of the residual limb. This is unique to each individual and changes depending on the activities being engaged in by the amputee. A poorly fitting prosthetic socket can cause significant trauma so it is important to consider how to optimise the fit to maximise the amputee's comfort whilst wearing the limb prosthesis. Current practice in designing a prosthetic socket is time-consuming, and is highly dependent on the experience of the prosthetist. The SocketMaster project aims to integrate micro electronic, mechanical (pressure and acceleration), fluidic biomechanical and moisture sensors into a Master Socket which can help prosthetists to achieve fast customised design and manufacturing of prosthetic sockets for lower limb (trans-femoral and trans-tibial) amputees. Firstly, existing micro sensors such as piezoelectric, MEMS based pressure sensors will be adapted or developed so that pressure distributions within the interface between the residual limb and the socket can be measured. Secondly, a Master Socket will be built by assembling the sensor system in a rigid hosting socket in such a way that the sensors' positions can be adjusted to achieve a comfortable configuration for the patient. The pressure distributions at typical activities of a patient will be used to optimise the socket design to maximise the patient’s comfort. The digital 3D data of the optimised socket design can be fed into a rapid prototyping machine for fast fabrication. Thirdly, clinical trials will be carried out to validate the Master Socket. It is envisaged that SocketMaster will enable same day socket fabrication with optimised quality, and the fit and function of the prosthetic socket will be less dependent on the skills of the prosthetist.