Twelve-member IPANEMA consortium implements competences of participating academic & industry beneficiaries and 3rd country partners to 1) create a knowledge/experience-sharing network of scientists, entrepreneurs & end-users in the multidisciplinary field of biosensors for POCT (point-of care testing); 2) develop innovative bottom-up approaches for fabrication of low-cost POCT devices & implementation of paper-based nucleic acid testing (NAT); 3) pursue applications in 3 important industry sectors – healthcare, agrifood & environmental monitoring. Research & Innovation (R&I) activities will be focused on developing low-cost paper-based isothermal NATs, their integration into microfluidic devices and optimization for use in a) tissue engineering b) agrifood (poultry/plant/fungal) pathogen detection c) detection of toxigenic freshwater Cyanobacteria causing harmful algal blooms. Secondments & trainings will enable researchers to acquire both technical & soft skills needed for converting scientific knowledge & ideas into products & services. Strong involvement of 5 SME partners from France, Serbia, Israel, Portugal & US contributing their proprietary knowledge on revolutionary novel materials for microfluidic devices & DNA extraction kits, domain expertise in agrifood sector, unique portable sensing systems & handheld devices for isoNAT quantification, will help researchers focus their efforts on development of innovative products for real-life use. Several transducing methods (colorimetric, fluorescence, SPR, electrochemical, microwave & magnetic) and smartphone-based read-out methods will be investigated for POCT use. Renowned beneficiaries including academic INRA, WUR, INESC & BIOS together with 3rd country partners: Columbia University, Prokhorov General Physics Institute and Xi'an Jiaotong University, will provide transfer of cutting-edge knowledge and technical expertise in effect yielding good basis for long term collaboration and joint R&I projects.

The ongoing pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections has led to more than 7.031.249 cases and 403.112 deaths globally as of June 8, 2020. Although most infections are self-limited, about 15% of infected adults develop severe pneumonia that requires treatment with supplemental oxygen and an additional 5% progress to critical illness with hypoxaemic respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and multiorgan failure that necessitates ventilatory support, often for several weeks. Worldwide, infections and death from SAR-CoV-2 continue during June with more than 110.000 new cases every day despite lockdown in Europe and oversees. What started as a temporary sanitary issue, has morphed into a more permanent and long-lasting pan epidemic outbreak. One efficient manner to limit COVID-19 spreading and an adequate mean of better managing the COVID-19 outbreak is through unrestrained availability of fast, efficient, accurate and cost-effective point-of-care tests (POCT). Here we propose C-POCT-S, a rapid (<30 min), sensitive (200 vps/mL), selective (SARS-CoV-2), and inexpensive ( < 20 Euros) solution to address this medical need. C-POCT-S is based on a combination of several technologies such as the use of COVID-19 specific nanobodies (VHH), magnetic nanoparticles with high magnetic strength and a VHH modified interfaces, all integrated in a a hand-held surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based POC test (C-POCT-S) for the screening of the presence/absence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in nasal and salvia samples. The aim of this project is to complete product optimization, performance validation in a clinical setting and manufacturing quality control for C-POCT-S and completion of its technical file, to enable declaration of conformity and affixing of CE mark.