The BioWings project kicks-off in Copenhagen
We are very excited to announce that the European-funded FET-OPEN project BioWings has officially started its activities on June 2018, with a kick-off meeting taken place at Risø DTU Campus, Denmark.
The project is entitled “Bio-compatible electrostrictive smart materials for future generation of medical micro-electro-mechanical systems”.
It has been funded under the Horizon 2020 framework programme, within the Future Emerging Technologies topic (FET-Open research and innovation actions).
BioWings in a nutshell
In the following 48 months of activities, 7 partners will collaborate to investigate the unique properties of a completely new class of smart actuating materials and facilitate the integration in biocompatible MEMS.
Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are key components of smart biomedical systems, enabling miniaturised devices with diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic functionalities.
Although these systems are poised to revolutionize medical diagnostics and treatment approaches, the slow progress in the development of biocompatible actuator materials used in these devices is still hindering this industry, preventing a host of new biomedical devices to enter the mainstream market.
BioWings’ main goal is to study, understand and implement a new class of smart actuating materials, based on highly defective cerium oxides, which recently displayed unique properties: non-toxicity and environmentally friendliness, unlike the current lead-based actuators; exceptionally high and still uncapped electrostrictive response under moderate electric fields, enabling low power consumption devices; full compatibility with silicon-based technologies and many other substrates, including metals and polymers.
The project will bring the technology to TRL4, preparing the ground for the industrialisation of a new class of “biomedical MEMS” with increasing geometrical and functional complexity, suitable for a large variety of implantable and/or diagnostic applications, ultimately aiming at ultrasonic generation (MHz) in microprobes and blood cell sorting for bacteria separation and haematocrit level (HCT) estimation.
The team
A multidisciplinary group of academic, industrial and medical partners will lay the foundations for a new paradigm in a new bio-compatible and environmentally friendly actuator smart materials design and implementation, which are poised to have a significant impact on the scientific, medical and industrial community.
The Consortium comprehends 4 top-notch European research centers devoted to the technologicl development of the project: The DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET (Denmark) which will act as coordinator, the WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE (Israel), the ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE (Switzerland) and LUNDS UNIVERSITET (Sweden).
Two companies will deal with the actual implementation of the new materials into MEMS and acoustofluidic chips for demonstrating diagnostic applications: PIEMACS SARL (Switzerland) and ACOUSORT AB (Sweden). Finally, DAY ONE SRL (Italy) will focus on the project dissemination and business-related activities.
