P3SENS · Polymer Photonic multiparametric biochemical SENSor for Point of care diagnostics

The detection of chemical or biological substances increasingly appears as an essential concern in order to prevent human or animal health and security related problems. Present analytical techniques are expensive and often require highly specialized staff and infrastructures. The principal need is to perform screening tests, which can be carried out in non-specialized infrastructures, e.g. Point of Care, schools and field, before unambiguous identification in a specialized laboratory. There is thus a need to develop a new detection system that has low-cost and is portable but at the same time offers high sensitivity, selectivity and multi-analyte detection from a sample containing various components (e.g. blood, serum, saliva, etc.).<br/>The objective of P3SENS is to design, fabricate and validate a multichannel (50 or more) polymer photonic crystal based label-free disposable biosensor allowing for a positive/negative" detection scheme of ultra small concentrations of analytes in solution (< 1 ng/mL). The biosensor will be encapsulated in a specifically designed microfluidic system in order to deliver the sample to the multiple sensing zones. The design of the biochip will allow it to be easily inserted in a compact measurement platform, usable by non-specialized practitioners outside of specialized laboratories for carrying simultaneous multi-analyte detection, delivering real-time monitoring, and with an assay duration that will not exceed a few tens of minutes.<br/>The photonic chip proposed in this project will be based on polymer Photonic Crystal (PhC) micro-cavities coupled into a planar waveguide optical distribution circuit. The photonic chip will be fabricated with available fabrication technologies - and with an emphasis on low cost substrates (polymer) and fabrication processes (nano-imprint lithography). More generally, P3SENS will push forward the development of low cost disposable biochips based on photonics."