Nano-Tera.ch: taking nanotechnology innovations out of the lab and into our daily lives Nano-Tera.ch is a Swiss national funding program for complex systems research involving micro- and nanotechnologies geared to health-related, safety-related, environmental, and energy-related applications. The Nano-Tera.ch program is financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research, in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Board and the Swiss University Conference. The Swiss National Science Foundation is in charge of evaluating funded projects via a panel of international experts. Since 2009 Nano-Tera.ch has financed over 60 projects, with a total four-year budget of CHF 120m. The main projects are generally undertaken by consortiums of 3 to 9 team members drawn from various Swiss research centers (i.e., federal technology institutes, universities and other research centers). Together, these institutions comprise a network of 31 centers with over 600 scientists and researchers. Thus far, the funded research has generated approximately 300 journal publications and over 500 conference and workshop presentations and has also been covered several times in the media. Swiss National Science Foundation evaluations, as well as those conducted by Nano-Tera.ch’s Scientific Advisory Board, have emphasized the strength of the scientific research undertaken by the teams involved in the projects. The evaluations have also noted the major contribution made by the Nano-Tera.ch program to the development of nanotechnology-related engineering in Switzerland. Internationally, Nano-Tera.ch has helped organize conferences, lectures and seminars, as well as a strategic initiative launched in 2011 and aimed at encouraging collaborations with China in fields covered by the program. This initiative took the form of an RFP for collaborative projects involving Switzerland and China, with 6 joint projects selected. The private sector is involved in Nano-Tera.ch, with most large projects receiving support from manufacturing and industry. Currently, a total of 27 private-sector manufacturing partners contribute an aggregate CHF 6.3m to Nano-Tera.ch, and 8 patent applications are currently pending for work that has come out of Nano-Tera.ch projects. The program’s first phase (2008-2012) is drawing to a close, and the second phase (2013-2016) is about to begin. During this second phase Nano-Tera.ch will add energy management, a field that is closely linked to environmental issues, to its three other focus-points, which are health, safety and the environment. On 26-27 April 2012, Nana-Tera.ch will have its annual general meeting, during which representatives of the various funded projects present their results. The leaders of the 19 main projects will provide an overview of their consortium’s work. There will also be approximately 100 poster presentations detailing various aspects of the projects. The meeting will take place at the Zurich Marriott Hotel, with an opening speech by Prof. Hugo de Man, Honorary Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and senior fellow at IMEC. He has written numerous landmark papers on such subjects as very large-scale system integration (VLSI). A panel discussion featuring representatives of manufacturing and industry and addressing possible applications of nanotechnology is also planned. More information on Nano-Tera.ch’s operations may be found at www.nano-tera.ch. Contact:
Patrick Mayor, Scientific Coordinator +41 21 693 55 39 info@nano-tera.ch
Press pack
Hi‐tech projects to help define the future Tomorrow’s technology today 1. An overview of the Nano‐Tera projects and their results Nano‐Tera, a Swiss funding program for complex, forward‐looking nanotechnology initiatives, has funded 68 projects since 2008. The results of these projects will be presented by researchers at the annual Nano‐Tera meeting in Zurich, Switzerland on April 26th. Projects concerning intelligent tissues and prosthetics, cocaine detection in saliva samples, an artificial on‐chip digestive system and live‐ cell pollution sensors will be on the agenda in Zurich. Each of these projects helps to improve environmental‐, health‐ and safety‐monitoring systems. Nanotechnologies in our daily lives As we enter the 21st Century, nanotechnologies (i.e., technologies whose scale is on the order of one millionth of a millimeter) are already present in our daily lives, for example in electronics (in our cell phones) or in commonly used administrative documents like biometric ID cards. Recent developments in medicine also employ nanotechnologies. Nano‐Tera’s support for nanotechnologies helps fund research aiming to make a concrete impact on our lives via people‐centered applications. Nano‐Tera privileges an interdisciplinary approach as the best way to obtain results, and this approach brings together specialists from a diverse array of disciplines and backgrounds. Over 30 institutions, including the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Lausanne and Zurich, the CSEM (the Swiss Center for Electronics and Micro‐technology), the CHUV (Lausanne University Hospital) and IBM‐Zurich participate in Nano‐Tera. Pooling the expertise of all the various participants helps Nano‐Tera efficiently develop nano‐scale equipment that is in line with the needs of the general public. This emphasis on applied research, together with the focus on interdisciplinary collaborative projects, sets Nano‐Tera apart among the various funding sources for Swiss scientific research on nanotechnologies. www.nano‐tera.ch
2. A selection of projects and their applications
The Nutrichip miniature on‐chip artificial intestine makes it possible to observe in vitro the effects of various nutrients on the human body once they have been digested. The platform has sparked the interest of Nestle. The food‐and‐nutrition‐sector multinational is interested in objectively testing the impact of its dairy products on health. The TecIntex project involves creating “intelligent” sensor‐equipped textiles that are washable and wearable and capable of monitoring muscle‐tissue oxygenation. In particular, the project team is developing socks that can detect peripheral vascular disease, and underwear that can detect incipient pressure ulcers (or “bedsores”) in paraplegics and people who are confined to their beds. The Irsens integrated optical sensing platform can detect cocaine in a saliva sample or pick up the signs of a gastric ulcer in air exhaled by a person. The platform has great potential in anti‐doping applications and can also be used to analyze air pollution levels. The Livesense project consists of an autonomous node made of living cells that function as biosensors. The platform’s nodes can be contacted remotely from a mobile phone: a node placed on a riverbank, for example, can provide information on water pollutants at its location remotely, via text message. The Nexray project aims to produce miniaturized X‐ray sources, an innovation which will drive a striking improvement in the resolution of X‐rays and a reduction in radioactivity. Nexray will also make it possible to reduce the size of medical equipment, paving the way for off‐site medical exams such as mammograms that could be performed by doctors in a house‐call setting in regions that are far from hospitals.
3. More details on several projects IR‐Sense Detecting cocaine in a simple saliva sample “Getting past the breathalyzer” may not be good enough much longer for people who shouldn’t be behind the wheel when the police pull them over. The IrSens Nano‐Tera project team is developing a portable integrated sensing platform for gases and liquids that can be used to detect the presence of cocaine in saliva. The police could use this system by simply placing the sample in the detector, which is roughly the size of a suitcase. The same technology can be used to identify stomach ulcers based on exhaled air. The IrSens platform is based on optical absorption techniques in the near‐ and mid‐infrared range, which are used to analyze liquids and gasses. Cocaine detection is performed by beaming a laser into a saliva sample. Spectroscopy techniques make it possible to precisely identify the molecules that are being screened for, based on the idea that different molecules react in different ways to light. Depending on the laser’s frequency, certain molecules will vibrate, providing information on their nature and their mass. “Saliva is tough to analyze,” says researcher Yargo Bonetti. “It contains many different sorts of molecules and its pH, viscosity and composition constantly change, depending on what the person has eaten or even their mood.” Regarding gas analysis, the platform has been successfully tested on Helicobacterpylori bacteria, which cause stomach ulcers. The platform can detect the bacteria in air exhaled by an affected person. This could lead to better treatment for ulcer victims, and the team is considering other possible applications for the platform, notably environmental uses. Principal investigator: Jérôme Faist, ETHZ Other participants: EPFL UniNE EMPA FHNW Further information: Martin Rajman, Nano‐Tera Director 021 693 52 77, martin.rajman@epfl.ch
LiveSense Water pollution information in real time via text message Our lakes and rivers contain pollutants, sometimes in large amounts. These can include common pain‐relieving drugs, phosphorous, nitrates, insecticides and industrial solvents. A current challenge is to come up with a way to analyze the cleanliness of the water at bathing sites – before people have gone for a swim. The Nano‐Tera project LiveSense provides a solution. Their portable cell‐based sensing micro‐system can detect water pollutants and make the information available very quickly. Water‐safety data can be sent via text message to anyone who dials up the platform. “Back in the day, miners counted on the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine’ to know whether the air was safe to breathe,” recounts EPFL Professor and Project Coordinator Philippe Reynaud. “When the canary stopped singing and began to suffocate, it was time to get back up out of the mine. Our system is like a modern‐day canary, but focused on water quality rather than air quality.” Contrary to traditional monitoring systems, which are centralized and require major infrastructure, the miniaturized LiveSense system can provide continuous monitoring at multiple sites. “Currently, water pollution in a river is only detected several days after the spill has occurred, once the fish start dying or the water changes color. LiveSense is an early warning system that makes it possible to take action well before there are any external signs of a problem,” continues Reynaud. It is the use of biosensors—living cells used as detectors—that makes it possible to miniaturize the platform. However, living cells are difficult to maintain. As the conditions under which the cells may be incubated are quite exacting, the project team has equipped the autonomous node with a bioreactor that provides constant nutrition to the cells and keeps them at a constant temperature. Once the cells are stable, they are continuously exposed to water from a given source (i.e., the source to be tested). If for some reason the contents of that water source begin to “stress” the cells and the cell population is no longer stable, the machine immediately detects this and sends a text message out. “We’re monitoring the condition—good or bad—of those tiny organisms,” says Reynaud. Principal investigator: Philippe Renaud, EPFL Other participants: HES‐SO UNIL CSEM ETHZ IST
NutriChip Analyzing food quality with an artificial intestine: the NutriChip What happens in our bodies when we have eaten something? NutriChip was developed to answer just that question. It is a miniature on‐chip artificial intestine that can be used to observe in vitro the effects of nutrients on health. The NutriChip project’s first tests have already been conducted, on dairy products. “Food brings pro‐inflammatory molecules with it when it hits the intestine,” says Guy Vergères, a member of the Agroscope Liebefeld‐Posieux (ALP) Research Center. These molecules set off an immune response, in the form of slight, temporary inflammation. Biomarkers for inflammation, notably cytokines, can then be found in the blood. This is a normal phenomenon, but it must be monitored. “If this happens over and over for a long period of time, it can set the stage for chronic inflammatory disease,” warns Vergères. The NutriChip platform’s usefulness is that it makes it possible to compare different foods in terms of their ability to lower the concentrations of those biomarkers – and thus possibly their ability to reduce inflammation itself. The research team began its tests with milk. “Some studies have shown that dairy products can reduce the concentration of inflammatory biomarkers in the blood, while others did not find any significant reduction in concentrations. With the NutriChip, we will be able to contribute new scientific data to this debate,” says EPFL Professor Martin Gijs. The NutriChip platform takes the shape of a two‐level chip, whose levels are connected via a porous membrane. The upper level, which represents the intestinal wall, is made of a homogeneous layer of cultured epithelial cells. The lower level represents the circulatory system and is made up of immune system cells, and in particular macrophages. When macrophages encounter any potentially dangerous agents within the body, they release molecules such as cytokines that activate other immune‐system cells. For each food tested, the NutriChip platform uses CMOS high‐resolution optical sensors to precisely detect and measure cytokine production by the immune cells that are on the other side of the layer of intestinal wall cells. These measurements show exactly how much inflammation is caused by a given food. Human testing is currently underway at Bern University Hospital to determine if NutriChip’s results line up with what happens in real people’s bodies. Principal investigator: Martin Gijs, EPFL Other participants: ETHZ UniBas
ALP
X‐Sense An Alpine landslide early‐warning system The X‐Sense project aims to prevent situations where an Alpine chalet is built ‐‐ only to be swept away by a landslide ten years later. The project team has developed wireless sensing technology that can continuously gather data on site in the mountains, along with an analytical method that aims to predict danger and thereby reduce geophysical risks like the one described above. A prototype is already collecting data in the Mattertal valley, near Zermatt. Climate change and the glacial retreat it has caused have made some steep rocky terrain in the Alps unstable. In some cases, people who live in or hike through the mountains are at risk of life‐ threatening accidents such as landslides and rock‐fall. Landslides and other Alpine terrain movements, including rock‐fall, are still poorly understood and difficult to predict. The X‐Sense platform aims to address this problem thanks to differential GPS sensing and high‐precision multi‐ dimensional sensors that can precisely and continuously measure geophysical movement, even in extreme Alpine conditions. Data is sent wirelessly to a base station and then on to the host. The objective is to integrate the various data types during analysis, including satellite images and HR imaging data. “The fact that X‐Sense can gather data continuously makes it possible to understand the influence of many parameters on geophysical movement, for example how a melting snowpack can influence geophysical movements,” says researcher Jan Beutel. “This is a very timely project. There are places in the Alps where the land moves several meters per year.” Principal investigator: Lothar Thiele, ETHZ Other participants: UZH FOEN GAMMA