Medical Device Link.

Originally Published EMDM March/April 2003

INDUSTRY NEWS

A multimode, multimedia system would bring ubiquitous computing to the environment. Diagnostics is poised to benefit.

Europe’s largest independent R&D centre devoted to nanotechnology, microelectronics, and information and communication systems, IMEC houses a 4800-m2 cleanroom, almost half of which is certified to Class 1.

If you think AI stands for artificial intelligence, you’re living in the past. According to the Belgian research organization IMEC, ambient intelligence is the wave of the future. The centre recently unveiled its “Seeds for Tomorrow’s World” programme dedicated to creating the technology for a wireless network interfacing with ubiquitous sensors and related devices embedded around, on, and, eventually, in us. Diagnostics will probably be among the first applications.

Originally established in 1984 to support local universities and the microelectronics industry, IMEC is now Europe’s largest independent R&D centre devoted to nanotechnology, microelectronics, and information and communication systems. Its resources include a 4800-m2 cleanroom housing a silicon pilot line as well as solar cell, and multichip-module pilot lines. “Our mission is to conduct scientific research that is 3–10 years ahead of industry,” explains corporate communications manager Katrien Marent. The time frame is designed to keep research focused on feasible projects, and the policy appears to have been effective. IMEC has spawned 19 spin-off companies, with two others currently in incubation. It is hoped that the M4 and Human++ initiatives designed to usher in the era of ambient intelligence will continue the track record.

The M4 programme’s mission is to develop low-cost, multimode, multimedia systems. IMEC’s strategy to bridge the gap between microelectronics and complex system design—a goal that has, so far, eluded others—is to adopt a multidisciplinary approach that harnesses the multiple strengths of the organization. The synergy that is expected to result has the best chance of succeeding at integrating cost-effective complex systems that consume minimal power, according to IMEC.

The Human ++ initiative, says programme director Bert Gyselinckx, will advance healthcare in two ways: through the development of portable diagnostic devices to detect biomarkers and the creation of an autonomous network of sensors in and around the body that will monitor vital signs and even intervene, as necessary. The body area network (BAN), a key part of the Human++ programme, is described by Gyselinckx as a system comprising more than 100 sensors that continuously monitor coronary activity, blood pressure, blood glucose levels, and a host of other parameters. He cites an EEG sensor for people suffering from epilepsy as one promising early application.

“The EEG sensor worn by the patient monitors neural activity and transmits the data to a PDA, or local-area or GSM network,” says Gyselinckx. 

“Initially, this type of system would permit the patient freedom of movement in the hospital. Beyond that, we can envision the patient going about his daily life wearing an early-warning system that would alert him if a seizure is imminent,” Gyselinckx explains. He speculates that at some point we could also imagine an electrode implanted in the brain that would spring into action when a seizure is about to occur and prevent it from happening.
While the sensors under development at IMEC will have to satisfy a host of different requirements, they will be based on a generic platform that integrates the power supply, wireless transceiver, and control mechanism in a miniature package. 

IMEC’s biosensors group, under the leadership of Andrew Campitelli, is doing its part to make this vision a reality. “Our goal is the seamless integration of technologies, concepts, and processes,” says Campitelli. Although it is not without challenges, the development of efficient biosensors that can be manufactured cost-effectively is progressing at a steady clip, according to Campitelli. In particular, the use of mixed surface-assembly monolayers and novel surface chemistries is leading to sensors with enhanced selectivity properties. Campitelli cites the example of the EU-funded PAMELA research project, coordinated by IMEC, involving a point-of-care test for prostate cancer that aims to provide results in less than 20 minutes from a single drop of blood. In other developments, IMEC has fabricated a Ta203 gate–dielectric pH sensor with applications in glucose measurement and is conducting research into inexpensive polymer-based biosensors for similar use.

In a few years, if all goes according to plan, these parallel tracks of research will coalesce into a seamless whole and make ambient intelligence an integral yet almost invisible part of our lives.

To find out more about research being conducted at IMEC with implications for the biomedical sector, contact Katrien Marent, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium; phone: +32 16 281211; fax: +32 16 229400; e-mail: katrien.marent@imec.be; Internet: www.imec.be.

Norbert Sparrow

Copyright ©2003 European Medical Device Manufacturer