Description: Within the EU project ‘d-LIVER’ the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering together with 13 European partners develops an IT-based liver support system which permits medical observation of patients with chronic liver disease. The system can be used inside a hospital as well as in a home environment. For the reliable application of the system in the ambulant area and in particular in a home environment it is essential to monitor the system and the patient during liver dialysis. To this end new sensors and information and communication technologies will be developed. Within ‘d-LIVER’ we will use bioreactors with living liver cells which can perform the detoxification and synthesis functions of the liver as opposed to adsorption or filtration techniques which have no metabolic capability. Furthermore, innovative technologies and sensors will be developed to facilitate large-scale cultivation of fully functional liver cells under controlled conditions.
Contribution of IBMT: The working group Microsensors & Microfluidics of the Fraunhofer IBMT develops new sensors to allow the quality and efficacy of the cells within the bio-artificial device to be continuously self-monitored. Impedance spectroscopy is used as the main measurement principle. The sensors will be integrated into the bioreactor in cooperation with other partners. At Fraunhofer IBMT, the tasks are carried out in cooperation with the working group In-vitro Culture Technologies. Furthermore the working group Home Care & Telemedicine deals with all IT aspects of the liver support system.
Web page: www.d-liver.eu
Funding: EU-FP7-ICT
Funding period: 10/2011-09/2015

Description: The objective of REMOTE is to assist elderly people with health impairment in everyday life, so that they are able to live their life self-determined as far as possible. By means of information- and communication technology we will create a network comprising both social contacts and tele-health-services. Among a multiplicity of commercial sensors, two newly developed sensors by IBMT will be used. The new sensors detect the wetness of the oral cavity and the maxillary movements to infer eating and drinking habits. The complete network will be tested in selected locations in different places all over Europe.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the development of miniaturised mouth-worn sensors for measuring the wetness of the oral cavity and the maxillary movements.
Web page: www.remote-project.eu/
Funding: BMBF 16SV3831 und EU AAL-2008-1
Funding period: 04/2009-03/2012

Description: For the treatment of diabetes and decubitus patients, the control of pressure load and pressure distribution of the affected body regions plays an important role. By employing innovative microsensors which will be implemented flexibly in different textiles, ulceration shall be effectively reduced, well directed and continuously. This textile based system will record and analyse pressure conditions of endangerd body regions, indicating overload conditions to the patient, who will then be able to relieve the corresponding body part, e. g. toe, heel or pelvis.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the wireless data link between the textile measuring unit (e. g. decubitus sock) and a processing and alarm unit placed at the upper part of the body. In addition, IBMT develops the electronics and the required firmware.
Funding: 16SV3713 funded by BMBF
Funding period: 11/2008-10/2011

Description: Novel principles of adaptation for symbiotic multi-robot organisms are the main scientific interest in REPLICATOR. Such robot organisms consist of swarms of robots which can - if advantageous to do so - dock with each other and symbiotically share energy and computational resources within a single artificial-life-form. In order to be able to autonomously interact with each other and their environment, each individual robot module possesses a variety of sensors and actuators.
Contribution of IBMT: The department is responsible for on-board electronics, energy management, and hardware integration.
Web page: www.replicators.eu
Funding: EU FP7 ICT-216240
Funding period: 03/2008 – 02/2013

Description: RaSP intends to develop a very fast, cheap and at the same time very sensitive method which has the potential to detect more than 100 blood pathogens simultaneously. RaSP aims at simultaneously detecting the pathogens HIV, hepatitis C, hepatitis B and syphilis to demonstrate the capabilities of the system. A simple and small desktop system which is easy to use and which leads to accurate results will be set up allowing to detect the presence of any of the mentioned blood pathogens within 10-20 minutes. Thus, infected blood could be excluded at an early stage from the blood banking procedure. RaSP exploits a new type of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) transducing principle, that allows very fast and sensitive testing. The immunosensing diagnostic assay is based on the very specific immune reaction between antigens and antibodies.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT coordinates the project and is furthermore responsible for the development of all micro-fluidic components.
Web page: www.rapid-spr.com
Funding: EU SP5A-CT-2006-0445
Funding period: 01/2007-12/2009

Description: SmartHEALTH will develop an open integrated architecture for new biodiagnostic systems to support European companies exploiting bioassays or new application concepts. The initial system has a disposable fluidic cartridge with a desktop base-station linking to the ambient e-Health environment. This concept will be miniaturised and cost engineered into a portable and more available product. It will perform multi-analyte sensing and interpretation, for nucleic acids and proteins and will handle multiple biological sample types. Results will be interpreted and presented using bio-information analysis. Systems will be healthcare “user identity-” and “ambient environment-” aware, respecting confidentiality and information access rights. Clinical areas for SmartHEALTH application are in Cancer Diagnostics - breast cancer recurrence monitoring, cervical cancer case finding, and colorectal cancer diagnostics, theranostics and prognostics.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the packaging of biochips as well as for their integration in the lab-on-chip system. The working group “Homecare” of IBMT is in charge of all e-Health aspects of the project.
Web page: www.smarthealthip.com/
Funding: EU IST-NMP-2-016817
Funding period: 12/2005-11/2009

Description: The objective of this project is the development of silicon based integrated optical biosensors capable of detecting single binding events as well as label free biomolecular interactions. The transducer comprises arrays of monolithic silicon optocouplers interfaced with microfluidic channels directly integrated onto silicon. The optocouplers consist of nano-engineered silicon light emitting devices optically coupled to silicon nitride optical fibres and silicon detectors. The main project output is a monolithic silicon microphotonic biochip integrated with microfluidic channels and recognition biomolecules as well as the associated readout and control electronics assembled in a portable bioanalytical microsystem to be tested with specific panels of pituitary hormones, steroid hormones and DNA.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the packaging of biochips as well as for the development of the fluidic, electrical und mechanical interfaces between lab-on-chip and read-out unit.
Web page: www.nemoslab.eu
Funding: EU IST- 027804
Funding period: 01/2006-12/2008

Description: The main aim of 4M is to develop Micro- and Nano- Technology (MNT) for the batch-manufacture of micro-components and devices in a variety of materials into user-friendly production equipment, processes and manufacturing platforms for incorporation into the factory of the future. To achieve this the Network seeks to integrate currently fragmented R&D capacity in non-silicon microtechnologies in the ERA into a European Centre of Excellence. The establishment of such an expert resource and infrastructure at the European level is designed to help European companies engaged in satisfying the growing demand for portable, wireless communication products and many lifestyle, health and transport related systems incorporating MNT.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is leader of the task ‚biomedical platform’ as well as deputy leader of the microfluidics division within 4M.
Web page: www.4m-association.org/interest-group/Micro-Fluidics-Interest-Group
Funding: EU NMP2-CT-2004-5002
Funding period: 10/2004-09/2008

Description: This project aims to take a leap forward in robotics research by combining experts in microrobotics, in distributed and adaptive systems as well as in self-organising biological swarm systems. The project aims at technological advances to facilitate the mass-production of microrobots, which can then be employed as a "real" swarm consisting of up to 1,000 robot clients. These clients will all be equipped with limited, pre-rational on-board intelligence. The swarm will consist of a huge number of heterogeneous robots, differing in the type of sensors, manipulators and computational power. Such a robot swarm is expected to perform a variety of applications, including micro assembly, biological, medical or cleaning tasks.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the wireless inter-robot communication as well as for the wireless powering of the micro robots.
Web page: www.i-swarm.org
Funding: EU IST-VI 507006
Funding period: 01/2004-12/2007

Description: Within the framework of the research project INTELLIDRUG Fraunhofer IBMT in combination with other partners develops an intelligent medication system, which will be placed in the oral cavity in contrast to invasive implanted drug delivery modules. The system offers an alternative for the treatment of addicts and chronically ill persons. In order to fix the drug system in the oral cavity, a denture prosthesis is needed. The size of the miniaturized system corresponds to the size of two back teeth. In addition to the proper drug delivery system placed in the oral cavity, an external remote-control resembling to a mobile phone exists. The intra-oral unit consists of a drug reservoir, a pump mechanism, a valve, two sensors, electronics , batteries and a housing.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the development of the flow sensor, the drug level sensor, the electronics and the wireless communication.
Web page: www.intellidrug.org/
Funding: EU IST-FP6 Contract No 002243
Funding period: 01/2004-12/2007

Description: The objectives of Saliwell are to develop an effective and adverse side-effect free, electro-stimulation based therapy for dry-mouth. This resulted in the design and production of a fully functional intelligent miniaturised prototype device having the size of a single tooth crown sized. The intelligent microsystem comprises an electrostimulator, a wetness sensor as well as batteries, electronics and a micro controller. The device can wirelessly communicate with an external remote control unit.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the development of the electro-stimulator, the wetness sensor and the wireless communication.
Web page: -
Funding: EU IST-2001-37409
Funding period: 07/2002-05/2005

Description: The MiCRoN project aimed at the development of a new micro-robot system based on flexible mobile, 1 cubic centimeter sized robots acting autonomously. As a result, several fully independend and untethered working micro-robots have been developed, that are handling parts with the size of about 60 µm under a local, robot-based microscope. The robot can be equipped with several tools for micro- and nano-handling as well as for biological cell handling. The energy support is realised with a power floor by using magnetic fields, while the communication is done via infra red. The robot itself is currently one of the highest integrated micro tools.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the development of a micro-injection chip for cell injections, the wireless power supply as well as for the wireless robot communication.
Web page: -
Funding: EU IST-2001-33567
Funding period: 03/2002-02/2005

Description: The objective of the project is to develop a working prototype of a portable bioanalytical microsystem suitable for point of use biomedical, industrial and environmental testing. The microsystem is based on a monolithically integrated miniaturized silicon optical biosensor equipped with immunoaffinity and DNA recognition layers. The optical transducer consists of light sources, optical fibers and detectors monolithically integrated on a silicon chip through integrated circuit technology and is capable of performing fast assays without the need of external optical components. The system also consists of the control and signal processing electronics, the appropriate packaging of the sensor die, the microfluidic module and the basic analysis software.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the packaging of biochip as well as for the development of the fluidic, the electrical und mechanical interfaces between lab-on-chip and the read-out unit.
Web page: -
Funding: EU IST-2000-28214
Funding period: 06/2001-05/2004

Description: Within the MOTIV-project „Brain Shunt“ the worldwide one and only active implant for the treatment of hydrocephalus diseases has been developed. It works as a binary switch actuating the liquor drainage by means of a hard-coded opening frequency dependent on the time of day. By means of a special programmer the hard-coded opening frequency can be changed non-invasively over an inductive interface. Thus, the therapy can be adapted individually to the patient’s requirement.
Contribution of IBMT: Fraunhofer IBMT is responsible for the micro valve, the wireless powering, the wireless communication as well as for the entire electronic system and software.
Web page: www.motiv-medtech.de/brain_shunt.php
Funding: supported by BMBF within the frame of “Kompetenzzentrum für Miniaturisierte Monitoring- und Interventionssysteme“ (MOTIV)
Funding period: 10/2000-12/2005