Universitat de Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain
Universitat de Barcelona (UB) was founded in 1450. Today it boasts of a student body of 63,020 and a research staff of 5,532 members. The IN2UB is specialized in the development of new materials and devices for sensing, instrumentation principles, control, and data processing and transmission systems within the Micro and Nanosystems Engineering discipline towards miniaturized smart instruments. The research group emphasis is on sensors and actuators and their interface circuits, data processing algorithms and digital communications. The scientific results of these activities have been applied to areas as automotive industry, robotics, biomedicine, environmental control, and food industry. IBUB, created in September 2006, conducts basic research and provides an interactive framework for scientists from different fields to conduct multidisciplinary integrated research in biomedicine. The HCB (Hospital Clínic de Barcelona) is the leading clinical institution in Spain in terms of biomedical and translational research publications. In 2019, the HCB pioneered the multidisciplinary study and clinical management of thoracic malignancies by launching the Functional Unit of Thoracic Tumours (FUTT). The FUTT gathers all the health care professionals involved in the clinical management at the HCB (oncologists, surgeons, pathologists, radiologists, neumologists), as well as all the basic research groups that work in the field of lung cancer in the HCB campus.
Within StretchBio, IN2UB will coordinate the whole project and will contribute to the WPs related to the simulation and modelling of the nanosystem and collaborate in the fabrication. IN2UB will also lead the design of the final device with living tissues. IBUB will especially contribute to those WPs related to cell biology and to the communication and dissemination. IBUB will also be strongly involved in the design and testing of the final device with Drosophila melanogaster. FUTT will especially contribute to those WPs related to the validation of the nanodevice with ex vivo tissues from lung cancer patients, and to the communication and dissemination. FUTT will also be strongly involved in the optimization of the final nanodevice with lung cancer biopsies.
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet
Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
DTU was founded in 1829 by Hans Christian Ørsted. Today DTU is located in three different campuses, with the main campus placed 15 km north of Copenhagen, at Lyngby. There are 11538 students from 102 countries and a staff of 6053 employees.
The Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (DTU Bioengineering) will be participating in this project. DTU Bioengineering addresses challenges of societal and scientific importance through basic and applied research, teaching, scientific consultancy and dissemination of knowledge within the areas of microbiology, biomedicine and biotechnology. The Department of Photonics Engineering (DTU Fotonik) is one of Europe’s largest public photonics research department that covers a multitude of optical disciplines ranging from fundamental light-matter interaction and optical telecommunications to applied research and innovation.
Within StretchBio, DTU will be responsible for the fabrication of the device, the modeling of the stress on the pillars and will be participating in the device testing.
Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
The Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg was founded in 1995 and has grown up to one of the largest German research institutes in the field of micro- and nanotechnology . The scientific scope of the institute encompasses nearly all technical fields relevant to the highly interdisciplinary world of microsystem technology. IMTEK owns a well-equipped 600m2 clean room for micro- and nanosystems technologies. This clean room is well suited for R&D projects due to the flexibility of its processes.
ALU-FR will bring its expertise in state-of-the-art semiconductor fabrication technology into the project to aid in the fabrication of the integrated nanosystem, in collaboration with DTU. The main task of ALU-FR will be the optical characterization of the nanosystem in the cell culture medium, together with UB. Here ALU-FR brings outstanding experience in the design, setup and validation of optical sensing systems and integration of small-scale optical components like VCSELs.
LEITAT
Terrassa, Spain
LEITAT is a Technological Centre specialized in production technologies, developing R&D activities in the areas of materials sciences, environment, biotechnologies and renewable energies with deep knowledge and experience in technological transfers to several industrial sectors. LEITAT is recognized by the Spanish Government as a Centre of Technological Innovation and is one the 5 Technological Centres that is accredited by the Regional Government of Catalonia.
ReadyCell
Barcelona, Spain
ReadyCell is a biotechnological company focused on providing sophisticated, cell based in vitro tools and R&D services for the ADME-Tox and Cosmetic segment. Our expertise includes the manufacturing of patented, innovative cell-based and ready-to-use kits for efficacy and safety testing of active molecules as an alternative to animal testing, on drug discovery. ReadyCell developed a patented technology that allows the shipment of living plated cells at room temperature. Maintaining their full viability and cellular characteristics, and thus allowing to streamline drug discovery pipelines and reducing experimental costs. ReadyCell current Services portfolio covers a wide spectrum of drug discovery applications for in vitro and in silico screening, including adsorption, metabolism and toxicity assays.