Objective
Gastroenteritis, caused by the airborne Norovirus, is the third most deadly infectious disease worldwide, infecting ~4% of the population annually, worldwide, and has related costs measured in billions € annually in the EU alone. Today, detection of airborne viruses can only be done in retrospect in the laboratory, which severely limits the ability to rapidly react and limit the spread of an outbreak. The NOROSENSOR consortium will address this problem by developing the first of its kind, real-time sensor for airborne viruses, with particular focus on the NoV. Because the virus concentration in air can be very low, and because rapid and efficient virus trapping and concentration methods have been missing, no solution exists today. The NOROSENSOR project will fill this important need by integrating a number of recently developed, highly powerful technologies:
• Novel nanobiotechnology: nanobead enhanced rolling circle amplification (nano-RCA), engineered synthetic DNA aptamers, and proximity ligation assays (PLA)
• First ever airborne nanoparticle manipulation: capturing, filtering and up-concentration of viruses using acoustophoresis and electrostatic precipitation.
with beyond state-of-the-art:
• Ultra-sensitive QCM mass-sensitive transducers and electronics.
• Novel Off-stoichiometry Thiol-Ene-Epoxies (OSTE) polymers for cartridge and reagent storage on-chip.
The consortium consist of six of the highest ranked European Universities, each experts in their research area, two SMEs providing a unique expertise in their core business areas, and a large multinational industry in infection control technology.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyvirology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNA
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseases
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materials
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-NMP-2013-SMALL-7
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research projectCoordinator
100 44 Stockholm
Sweden