The European Research Council (ERC) is the European Union’s funding body for outstanding researchers of all ages and nationalities who intend to conduct frontier research in EU member states or associated countries. The ERC supports high-risk research projects led by Principal Investigators (PIs) with internationally distinguished track records. Projects are funded on the basis of project ideas submitted by researchers, in any field of science, without predefined research topics, and evaluated on the sole criterion of scientific excellence.
A binary sensor revolutionizing non-invasive screening
The ERC Starting grant “NoOne-A binary sensor with single-molecule digit to discriminate biofluids enclosing zero or at least one biomarker”, started on April 1st, 2022 and is founded by European Research Council Executive Agency for 5 years (GA 101040383) for a total budget of 2.5 M€.
Biomarkers represent measurable indicators of a specific disease state in an organism. Interest in diagnostic markers has grown significantly, as they enable reliable and noninvasive screening of peripheral biofluids. The NoOne project aims to develop, design, implement, and validate an innovative platform based on a single-molecule binary bioelectronic sensor that can reliably discriminate biofluid samples lacking biomarkers from those that contain at least one. This technology is capable of binary detection of proteins/peptides and genomic markers, enabling reliable screening of diseases such as cancer, as well as viral and bacterial infections. The NoOne binary platform is designed to be portable, inexpensive, easy to use and with result times within an hour, making it an ideal option for point-of-care applications. The prototype will enable clinicians, phytopathologists or veterinarians to distinguish samples completely devoid of protein, peptide or genomic markers, as well as pathogens (viruses or bacteria), from those that contain at least one, with a 99 percent confidence level. This makes it the best NoOne platform in enabling rapid, highly reliable and cost-effective identification of the subset of biological samples that potentially belong to the diseased part of a population. This is critically important for predictive screening of humans, plants or animals.
It is a project idea with a strong interdisciplinary character, involving cutting-edge aspects of analytical chemistry, device physics, electrochemistry, electronics, biochemistry up to chemical and materials engineering that aims to conceive, engineer, fabricate and validate a revolutionary platform based on a single-molecule binary bioelectronic sensor that can reliably discriminate biofluid samples that enclose zero biomarkers from those that contain only one.
NoOne will demonstrate its effectiveness in key applications such as binary biomarker detection of pancreatic cancer, SARS-CoV-2 virus, Xylella Fastidiosa bacterium, and assay of post-translational peptides that regulate interaction with oncogenic signaling pathways.
The NoOne project aims to develop, design, implement, and validate an innovative platform based on a single-molecule binary bioelectronic sensor that can reliably discriminate biofluid samples lacking biomarkers from those containing at least one
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