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The International Bio-sensor and Chemo-sensor Network

Linking academic, clinical and commercial worlds

Sensor100

News and views from the Sensor100 community

Edited by:Michael Brand PhD SM FRSC

Sensor100’s eNewsletter is published by:Captum Capital LimitedCumberland House35 Park RowNottingham NG1 6EEUnited Kingdom

Visit the Sensor100 home page: www.sensor100.com

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Table of contents

Editorial 4

Cancer Diagnostics Net-work

6

Sensors for Cancer Diagnosis Conference

7

Coming S100 Events 8

That Was The Year That Was

10

See Sensor100 on social media

Sensor100 Group

Sensor100

@Sensor100AgTech

@Captum_Capital

Sensor100 December 2016 4

From the Editor

And so 2016 comes to a close. It has been in many ways an unfor-gettable year, in which the UK voted to leave the European Union, and Donald Trump was elected the next President of the USA. Both events are likley to have long term impacts on the sensor commu-nity, although we will have to wait and see how that develops. The uncertainty surrounding both these directional changes is being felt now among academics and large and small companies as well.

And now we turn to 2017. Sensor100 will continue with its es-tablished conference program: Sensors for - Cancer Diagnosis - Environmental Monitoring - Food & Agricultue. Our conferences are unique in that they focus on applications rather than sensor technology. Most sensor research never progresses beyond the lab door; we need to develop ways of identifying the wheat from the chaff, and finding how to turn the wheat into bread. Clearly the exisiting models are not working.

Sensor 100 will take a (well earned?) break between Christmas and the New Year; we’re back on January 3rd.

Our very Best Wishes to you for the Holiday Season

Michaelmichael@sensor100.com

5 Sensor100 December 2016

Sensor100 wishes you a safe, healthy and productive New Year

Sensor100 December 2016 6

Join the Cancer Diagnosis Network, to: Link with others working in the sector

Receive, and contribute to, a quarterly newsletter

Attend regular meetings, quarterly (biannually?)

Help raise funds for an Innovation Challenge Platform to identify the most promising early stage diagnostic tools

And more - activities will evolve as the network grows

Annual FeesIndividuals & Pre-revenue companies £100Charities, SMEs, & universities £250Companies £1000

Note: 20% VAT added to all Membership fees20% discount until 31 Deccember 2016

“We spend most of our money in treating, rather than investing in diagnostics to know what we’re treating”

Professor Lord Ara Darzi, Imperial College London Kings Fund report: The Future is Now (2015)

Development of low cost rapid diagnostic tools for early stage cancer must be the great-est humanitarian challenge facing biosensor technology - and one which has the potential for the greatest commercial return, significant-ly larger than the market for glucose sensors. #cancerdiagnostics

7 Sensor100 December 2016

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London4 -5 April 2017

Sensor100’s Workshop “Biosensors for Cancer Diagnosis 2016” ac-tion outcomes included the formation of a Cancer Diagnostic Network (CDN), which would interact through social media, a quarterly newsletter and meetings and conferences.

Sensors for Cancer Diagnosis 2017 is the first of a series of annual (possibly biannual) conferences on this challenging target, and will incorpo-rate the first meeting of the CDN.

Papers are invited for presentation at the conference; suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

Cancer biomarkers Biomarker sensor platforms Liquid biopsies VOC sensors PoC devices CTC sensors Barriers to adoption of sensor technology

200 word abtracts should be emailed to info@sensor100; see Guidlines for Abstract Submission.

Deadline for Submission is 17 February 2017

Sensors for Cancer Diagnosis

Call for Papers

Registration

CDN Members receive a 10% discount on Registration Fees

Sensor100 December 2016 8

Com

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Sens

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sSensors for Cancer Diagnosis4 - 5 April 2017 London

Call for Papers: Biomarkers; sensor platforms;diagnostic devices; barriers to adoption

www.sensor100.com/SCD2017

Sensors for Environmental MonitoringJune Birmingham

Call for Papers: Air, soil and water monitoring; advances in sensor technology; health impact

www.sensor100.com/SEM2017

Sensors for Food and Agriculture5 - 6 December 2017 Cambridge

Call for Papers: Crop production; animal welfare;food quality; pathogen & contaminants

www.sensor100.com/SFA2017

Abstracts should be submiited by email to info@sensor100.comIndicate which conference and whether for oral or poster presentation, See Guidelines for Abstract Submission

9 Sensor100 December 2016

Sensor100 acknowledges with thanks the support of our sponsors in 2016

Sensor100 December 2016 10

That Was the Year That Was Farewell to 2016

January: The usual flood of announcements of conferences for the coming year, including three from Sensor100; too many to attend all of them, so may just go to our own. Theranos warned by Federal regulators that one of its laboratories poses a serious risk to patient health. Scripps Health Institute reported that a six-month randomized control trial found no short-term benefit in health costs or outcomes for patients monitoring their health with connected devices; Dr. Eric Topol, champion of digital medicine, described the results as “a bit disappointing”. Fitbit faces a class action suit by users who claim its heart rate monitor is in accurate to a dangerous degree. Illumina spins off GRAIL, a company to develop a pan-cancer screening test by directly measuring circulatingnucleic acids in blood. Chris Brand completes his PhD in the psychology of decision making.

February:Profusa unveils an implantable oxygen sensor which can last two years in situ, and is biocompatible so need not be removed. Yale School of Engineering announced plans to monitor air pollution in Baltimore with 50 stationary sensors and another 15 mo-bile units attached to individuals. US Project Moonshot 2020 aims to develop a cure for cancer by pooling resources of a “handful” of pharmaceutical companies by 2020; labelled unrealistic by those presumably outside the handful. The University of Man-chester is to build a £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) to develop commercial applications. Abbott Labs and Alere Inc. have announced a definitive agree-ment for Abbott to acquire Alere. New PoC tests were announced for meningitis (Hi-berGene) and lung cancer (Astraeus Technologies). Oral-B announced an app connect-ing your toothbrush to a smartphone.

March:The Economist magazine reported that mobile health apps are becoming more capable and potentially rather useful - while most are still aimed at fitness, lifestyle and diet, others are appearing which will benefit those with chronic dieseases like COPD. Seoul National University reported a flexible wrist worn multisensor device to detect sweat glucose levels, pH, and temperature - to date tested on mice and two humans. Mount Sinai hospital in New York reported that Theranos test results were 160% more likely to be abnormal than compared to two leading blood testing laboratories. A lumines-cence resonance energy transfer sensor developed at Hong Kong Poytechnic University detects the influenza virus

11 Sensor100 December 2016

That Was the Year That Was April:MyDx showed a PoC device for measuring the chemical composition of marijuana samples, likely to become more important now some US states are legalizing that drug. The University of Barcelona developed a bacteria impregnated paper sensor for water quality analysis. With loftier goals, NASA is developing ion chromatography-on-a-chip for water quality, to be deployed for use on both robotic and human missions to a va-riety of planetary bodies. Theranos continued to make news, with federal officials con-ducting a criminal enquiry into the company. The Longitude £10m prize challenge for antimicrobial resistance has so far rejected all proposals, while its committee has made overseas trips for promotional purposes. Proteus Digital Health raised an additional $50m in equity finance. University of Tokyo scientists have developed an electronic skin that can measure oxygen levels in the blood.

May:Sensor100 announced a project to identify leading bio-sensor technology for the early detection of cancer; we entered Virgin’s Voom competition, but failed to make the top 80 proposals. Engineers at the University of California San Diego developed thefirst flexible wearable device capable of monitoring both biochemical (lactate) andelectric signals in the human body. Siemens Healthcare business is rebranded Siemens Healthineers, with mixed reaction; social media comment: “This is how you destroy a company”. Nima offers a hand-held gluten in food sensor; Dart Sensors has a food freshness sensor which converts ethylene to ethanol, which can be detected elec-trochemically. Elsevier’s Biosensors 2016 conference held in Gothenburg with 1200 delegates.

June:The UK votes by a small majority to leave the EU; Britain’s Prime Minister resigns. Washington State University reports a “nanoflower” sensor to detect E.Coli in food. ams, Australia acquired 100% of Cambridge CMOS Sensors. Owlstone Medical closed a £7million investment round to commercialize its “breathalyser” for disease. Oschner Health Systems, New Orleans claimed to be able to bring two thirds of hypertensive patients within a normal range in 90 days by monitoring their blood pressure, and transmitting the results to healthcare professionals who provided feedback on health coaching and medication compliance. University of California, San Diego, reports a new graphene-based DNA mutation sensor which can quickly and easily indicate the presence of a range of cancers and other life-threatening illnesses in real-timeand low-cost.

Sensor100 December 2016 12

That Was the Year That Was

July:Sensor100 organized an invitation only workshop on Biosensors for Cancer Diagno-sis; participants considered it to be an exceptionally useful day, with several key issues to be taken forward, The USDA reported a new low cost portable tool for detecting bacteria in fresh fruit and vegetables. The European Photonics Industry Consortium developed a nearIR sensor for airport security capable of detecting explosives at 30m. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was banned from operating a blood-testing labo-ratory for two years by Federal Regulators. The National Institute of Health awarded Scripps Research Institute a record $120m grant to help medicine make a historic shift to treating patients based on their specific genetic makeup, lifestyle and environment. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Hickling’s seminal publication on the potentiostatthe 21st annual Electrochem meeting will be held at the location of itsdiscovery, the University of Leicester.

August:The MEMS & Sensors Industry Group® TSensors (Trillion Sensors) is a sensorbased initiative to focus on a future world with food, medical care, clean energy and aclean environment for all. How soon will annual production of sensors be 1 Trillion (a thousand billion)? Could be as early as 2020 according to some forecasts.

September:Sensor100 partnered with the University of York Environmental Science Depart-ment for the Innovation in Environmental Monitoring conference; keynote speakers were Rob Kinnersley (DEFRA), Dermot Diamond (Dublin City University), Werner Brack (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research) and Rod Jones (University of Cambridge). A great conference. Nicola Carslaw (University of York) made the point that domestic cleaning products were more harmful than NOx, SOx etc; her solution - open the window!

Canadian researchers reported a fibre sensor insensitive to temperature; it can detect eColi in 15 minutes over 40 deg temperature range. Eversense claim to have an im-plantable glucose sensor which is accurate for 6 months. The University of S. Australia reports a multiplexed biosensor for detecting bacterial infection in chronic wounds. UC Berkeley scientists are developing dust-sized wireless sensors implanted inside thebody to track neural activity in real-time, offering a potential new way to monitor ortreat a range of conditions including epilepsy and control next-generation prosthetics.

13 Sensor100 December 2016

That Was the Year That Was

October:MyDx has developed a hand held sensor for measuring THC levels in cannabis; the same technology is being used to test drinking water, pesticides in food and air pollu-tion. The US Army has been testing drones to sniff out clouds of chemical agents. Tufts University Nano Lab has investigated the use of threads made of a variety of materials coated with sensor materials such as carbon nano tubes as implantable sensors; claims are made for the possibility of implantable sensors for glucose and electrolytes. Wash-ington State University researchers have developed a low-cost, portable laboratory on a smartphone that can analyze several samples at once to catch a cancer biomarker, producing lab quality results.

November:Sensor100 launched the Cancer Diagnostic Network - an action item from our June Workshop. A consortium of leading European organizations in the field of chemical sensing have created a real-time, hand-held spectroscopy sensor that will combat un-necessary food wastage, increase airport safety and help reduce car emissions - proj-ect MIRPHAB (MidInfraRed Photonics devices fABrication for chemical sensing and spectroscopic applications). Time magazine recognizes Medtronic’s artificial pancreas as among the top 25 inventions of the year. Researchers at the University of Freiberg, DE, developed a microfluidic platform enabling the electrochemical readout of up to eight enzyme-linked assays (ELAs), simultaneously. Sensor100’s held the 4th annual Sensors in Medicine conference in London and the 2nd annual Sensors in Food and Agriculture conference in Cambridge.

December:The FDA has officially cleared the Dexcom G5 continuous glucose monitor to in-form treatment decisions -- without the use of a fingerstick glucometer, other than for calibration; believed to be the first such approval by the FDA. Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd, the UK-based technology company that has designed and sells the world’s only portable DNA/RNA sequencer, raised £100 million ($126 million) in new funding through a private placement of ordinary shares. DNA Electronics was award-ed a $52m contract to develop a semiconductor DNA sequencing platform for rapid diagnosis of antimicrobial resistant infections and influenza. Israel Institute of Technol-ogy announced a breath sensor array which correctly diagnosed multiple sclerosis, pre-eclampsia in pregnant women and eight separate types of cancer. Theranos closed its clinical labs, losing half its employees.

And now to 2017

Sensor100 December 2016 14

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