- Ward Hendriks - PhD Student
- Sonia García Blanco - Scientific Staff
Diabetes is a common chronic metabolic disorder. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 420 million people live with this condition and its prevalence steadily increases. Another 180 million people suffer from the disease without having been diagnosed. Early diagnosis of diabetes, differential diagnosis between the two types of the disease (Type I and II) and continuous monitoring is of paramount importance to both individuals, as early detection followed by proper treatment can lead to a delayed onset of the disease, and the society, reducing the economic impact of the disease
In this project, we will develop the main building blocks towards the implementation of a fully integrated, portable, multiplexed optical sensor that will permit the quasi real-time monitoring of a panel of biomarkers for the early detection and monitoring diabetes consisting of insulin, C-peptide and C-reactive molecule. The sensor will be scalable, meaning that the number of targeted biomarkers can be expanded in future developments.
The ChipSens device will combine in a single chip novel technologies in integrated optical molecular sensing. For the detection of the biomarkers of interest the sensor needs to be highly sensitive with an extremely low noise floor and large dynamic range. This will be achieved by careful consideration of the sensors interactions with the environment. In order to reduce the complexity of the final system, the laser sources and photodetectors will be integrated on the chip.