In the current world, there is a clear need of advanced multi-sensing systems capable of providing fast and quantitative detection of a huge range of hazards which could affect human health in our daily life. Sectors such as healthcare, food safety or environment control, among others, will require these tools to take fast and effective actions and prevent potential crisis impact. In this context, PHOTONGATE aims to develop an adaptable diagnostics solution, comprising Photonic cartridges and read-out platform, which allow to quantify multiple analytes of the same or different nature (biomolecules, chemicals, metals, bacteria, etc.) in a single test with levels of sensitivity and selectivity at/or over those offered by current commercial solutions. PHOTONGATE technology relies on a new sensing concept which combines two core technologies: a bio-chemical technology (molecular gates) which will confer the specificity and increased sensitivity to the system, and, on the other hand, a photonic technology (light interaction with Local Surface Plasmonic Resonance (LSPR) structures) working as transducers and allowing the quantification. PHOTONGATE consortium has been specifically designed for maximizing the project success since all the actors of the value chain are enrolled. In addition, the development and integration of the different PHOTONGATE components have been designed searching for the European autonomy by using European research, knowledge and fabrication networks as well as favoring European providers. PHOTONGATE goals will involve a significant progress beyond the State-of-the-Art in multi-sensing systems achieving faster and high sensitivity detection of multiples targets. A final validation of PHOTONGATE technology in relevant scenarios for health and food safety (TRL5) will be performed to demonstrate the system capabilities.

As consumer demand for fresh fruits and vegetables (F&V) continues to increase, so does the risk of microbiological and chemical contamination. Currently, inspections for F&V are carried out at the production site or the food processing facility, based also on regulatory requirements. In most cases these are inspections of random batches using laboratory techniques, which may require up to two or more days before getting results. The time and cost per analysis leads to reduced checks and thus, elevated risks, even in countries with very efficient control mechanisms. Furthermore, such analysis cannot take place in all parts of the value chain (due to time requirements, but also due to associated cost), including supermarkets or restaurants, which are critical points since this is where the consumer will get the products from. GRACED considers the aforementioned need and the limitations of current techniques and proposes a novel solution for contaminants detection in all stages of the F&V industry value chains. The heart of the proposed solution is a novel plasmo-photonic bimodal interferometric sensor, combined with low cost on-chip light generation, capable of simultaneously and quickly detecting different analytes of interest. The sensor will be part of holistic, modular solution that exploits unique engineering designs, IoT concepts and advanced data analytics, for the early detection of contaminations in the F&V value chains. The approach will be validated in different production & distribution systems: a) a conventional farming system in open-air farms and the follow-up steps of food processing for preparing cooked meals and frozen vegetable packages, b) a novel, urban farming ecosystem, producing F&V locally and using them in in-situ restaurants, c) a short value chain based on agro-ecology and direct distribution from farmers to consumers & restaurants, d) a semi-automatic farm producing mushrooms and distributing them to supermarkets & wholesalers.

Drug hypersensitivity to antibiotics, mainly Beta-lactams (BLCs) affects more than 2.5 million European citizens. Moreover, preventable adverse drug reactions are estimated in additional hospitalization costs of 1750-4500 €/patient. Currently, the allergy diagnosis is mainly based on the information given by invasive, single, and risky in vivo assays. In daily practice, few in vitro diagnostic methods are available and only used at the tertiary health services. These tests also lack of sensitivity (>0.35 kUA/L) and selectivity (98%), multiplexed (10 BLCs), rapid (30 min), and low-cost (2.4 €/allergen) drug allergy test. The solution involves an advanced approach to the diagnosis and management of drug allergy with the aim to ameliorate patient safety. The consortium comprises multidisciplinary knowledge on optics, electronics, advanced materials, biotechnology, smart microstructures, microfluidics, surface/organic chemistry, allergy, manufacturing systems, and telecom networking. Also, the key industrial actors, present in the consortium, will contribute to the manufacturing and placing the product on the IVD market.

Food allergies affect over 17M people in Europe and increasing at a 2 digit prevalence rate. With no cure, the only successful method to prevent allergic reactions is to strictly avoid all foods containing the allergen. Hence, to identify these, the consumers rely on an accurate product labelling.The labelling of allergen contents for the industry is however not trivial, it does not only depend on the composition of the product, but also on the possible cross-contamination with allergens from other products. The current lack of standardized food allergen control plans and cost-effective allergen testing tools, drives food manufacturers to adopt over cautious labelling strategies. As a result, 90% of products with ¨may contain¨ allergen labels do not contain any. This reduces the choice of safe food for the allergic population (39.1M people), leading to a risk taking behaviour. SaPher project will disrupt the food allergen assessment market thanks to the development of an allergen assessment procedure supported by the industrialization and commercial deployment of our full automatic SaPher nano-photonics biosensing allergen test platform. SaPher will simultaneously assess up to 6 different allergens in food matrices, reducing turnaround times and cost by over 70% in comparison with current golden standards. To reach market, we will elaborate a standardized risk assessment method (DTU), develop the antibodies of interest not comercially available in the market for the target industries (INGE), industrialize and optimise our technology for mass production (LUME and UPV) and demonstrate both technology and procedure with the meat, dairy and bakery industries (NESTLE) as well as independent laboratories under operational conditions. As a result, we expect SaPher to be adopted by large and medium food producing companies and external laboratories, ensuring products are correctly labelled on allergen contents by performing over 1,1 Million allergen tests in 3 years.

The increased population density in modern animal production systems has made them vulnerable to various transboundary infectious agents & diseases. During the last decades in the developed world, a reduction in the direct burden of livestock diseases has been observed, because of more effective drugs & vaccines. However, the total impact may actually be increasing, because in a highly-interconnected world, the effects of diseases extend far beyond animal sickness & mortality. Therefore, early diagnosis and establishment of reliable countermeasures to infectious disease outbreaks is essential to limit severe biophysical and socio-economic consequences. To date, the time between initial disease outbreak and laboratory confirmation of the etiologic infectious agent can be up to several weeks. Reliable & simple diagnostic testing directly on site would enable rapid local decision making, which is crucial to prevent further spreading of the disease. Silicon-based Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) have been demonstrated as a powerful platform for biosensing systems. In combination with integrated monoclonal antibodies, they can provide portable multiplex detection of proteins with sensitivity & specificity previously not realized. SWINOSTICS addresses the sector needs, by developing a novel field diagnostic device, based on advanced, proven, bio-sensing technologies to tackle viruses causing epidemics in swine farms and leading to relevant economic damages, complying to the objectives of the STAR-IDAZ. The diagnostic device will allow threat assessment at the farm level, with the analytical quality of commercial laboratories. The device will be developed for a panel of 6 important swine diseases. The device will be portable & will provide results in 10 minutes for 5 samples simultaneously, making it highly suitable for field use. It is based on 3 lab-verified concepts: a) PIC technology, b) Label-free optical detection, c) patented nano-deposition technology.