Final Report Summary - BIOMAX (Novel diagnostic bio-assays based on magnetic particles) The BioMaX project was started in February 2011 with the general objective of training the next generation of bio-molecular researchers in the emerging field of nano-biotechnology, of opening new career perspectives for young scientists and bringing Europe at the frontline of new integrated molecular diagnostics. The project has been included in the framework of a highly qualified consortium consisting of 6 academic (KU Leuven, UPMC, EPFL, UU, UAB, TUE) and 4 industrial (Philips, Life Technologies-former Invitrogen Dynal, Ademtech and Future Diagnostics) partners. The training of fellows was organized through: (i) doctoral program of the local universities, (ii) day-to-day research activities in the labs and (iii) network-wide activities organized by one of the BioMaX partners (workshops, conferences, symposium and summer school). Each supervisor was responsible for the supervision of the research work, while BioMaX management team was supervising timely organization of network-wide training activities. The main project achievements can be summarized as follows: • recruitment of 13 fellows (11 different nationalities) with more than half being women (7 out of 13), thus comfortably reaching the minimal requirement imposed by the EU to ensure gender balance (≥40%)• all 11 recruited ESRs currently in their final year of PhD• breakthrough research published in 30 peer reviewed scientific articles and presented at various (inter)national conferences (85 posters and/or oral presentations)• special issue of New Biotechnology journal dedicated to the BioMaX research that will be published with open access in late spring/early summer 2015• number of different outreach activities performed in the context of the BioMaX project (e.g. more than 60 talks by BioMaX PIs, activities for the vulgarization of science such as articles in the local press (8), networking events (25) like the “EU researchers ‘night”, open days at institutions or visits of patients at companies and creation of BioMaX Facebook and LinkedIn pages). The complete list of all publications, conference contributions as well as dissemination activities performed within the project is available on the BioMaX project website (www.biomax-itn.eu)• successful organization of 7 training events (3 workshops, 2 symposiums, 1 summer school and 1 international conference; for more details please see below) with total number of 429 researchers outside the BioMaX network attending these events• successful organization of secondments, with all 13 fellows being seconded in the project at another partner’s location (either research institute or industrial partner or both) and 6 peer reviewed articles published as a direct result of fellows performing research at another partner’s location• excellent collaboration established among BioMaX partners demonstrated by starting 5 new EU project initiatives with 2 or more BioMaX partners (3 ongoing projects, 1 being in the revision stage and 1 application not being approved for funding)• 18 new projects (national and EU funding) started by BioMaX partners with a topic closely related to the research topic of BioMaX project, thus showing further expertise advancement in this research domainThe following training events took place within the BioMaX project: • Workshop at the Philips Research Facilities (February 2012) inside the High Tech Campus of Technical University of Eindhoven with the aim to teach fellows how to (i) define an application, user needs and requirements of each invention/technology on which they are working on, (ii) develop a system view on integrated biosensing, and (iii) develop a system architecture for each specific technology with an analysis of key bottlenecks. This workshop was combined with a visit to Future Diagnostics company.• BioMaX Satellite symposium “Magnetic Particle Biosensors” (May 2012) was organized at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA preceding the International Conference on the Scientific and Clinical Applications of Magnetic Carriers which lasted from May 22-26, 2012 at the same location. The number of participants in the international conference was approximately 300. Approximately 150 participants participated the BioMaX symposium and it was considered as an outstanding extension of the conference focused on the application of magnetic particles in biosensing. • The practical workshop “Advanced Techniques in Molecular Medicine” (October 2012) jointly organized by the EU FP7 projects BioMaX and DiaTools (http://www.diatools.org/) was followed by all the BioMaX fellows and 10 more external researchers with the general goal of giving the researchers hands on experience of molecular tools and technologies, such as Padlock Probes and Proximity Ligation Assays, that have been pioneered by Ulf Landegren, Mats Nilsson and their coworkers at Uppsala University.• Symposium On Technologies for Diagnostics (October 2012) was organized at Uppsala University and gathered an audience of about 90 people to present and discuss the needs and opportunities for future diagnostic tools and technologies.• Workshop at EPFL in Lausanne (June 2013) was organized with the aim to give hands-on experience in microfabrication/microfluidic chip fabrication, to teach fellows fundamental microfluidic properties and how to perform a full magnetic on-chip bioassay. The workshop was preceded by 1-day symposium (Microfluidics and Magnetic Beads) aimed at giving an introduction to fundamental aspects of microfluidics and presenting some highly relevant applications of microfluidic devices and was open to 10 external participants (i.e. EPFL PhD students). Speakers of the symposium were EPFL senior scientists and professors.• Summer School in Barcelona (July 2014) targeted the BioMaX fellows and external students active or interested in the field of “Magnetic Particle based Platforms and Bioassays”. The summer school was divided in a 2-day practical sessions and a 2-days seminar sessions given by academic (from CSIC, KUL, EPFL, UU) and industrial (Gwent, BioKit, Future Diagnostics, Philips) experts. Together with BioMaX fellows, total number of 55 students were registered in the BioMaX summer school. As part of this event, BioMaX fellows had also the opportunity to visit the ALBA Synchrotron Light facility located in Barcelona. • The concluding project event was the DIATECH2014 International Conference (Novel technologies for in vitro diagnostics, www.diatech2014.eu) that took place in October 4-6, 2014 in Leuven, Belgium. The conference was organized by MeBioS – Biosensor group headed by prof. Jeroen Lammertyn (BioMaX project coordinator) and KU Leuven and was supported by 4 additional EU research projects (RAPP-ID, DiaTools CareMore and NextDx) next to the BioMaX, in order to emphasize the impact on society that collaborations at the EU level can offer. The aim of this conference was to offer open floor discussion and networking opportunities for experts in the field of in vitro diagnostics in a unique combination of biology and technology with a strongly interdisciplinary approach. The 3-day event included 2 pre-conference thematic workshops, plenary talks from 9 internationally renowned invited speakers both from academia and industries, 18 selected short talks from 74 abstract contributions and poster presentations. The total number of conference participant was 141. Because of its great success, it was agreed during the conference to continue the DIATECH series with events organized every 2 years and the next one being scheduled for 2016 In Sweden.A general conclusion after completion of the BioMaX project is that the project progressed smoothly without any deviations, timely reaching all its objectives. BioMaX project allowed creation of a large network of people that continuously shared positive attitude towards the project with a strong interest towards all the activities. Fellows were playing a central role in the network, bringing in enthusiasm and a strong motivation that always resulted in making the best out of all organized network events. The generated impact of the project can be summarized as follows: (i) breakthrough research results in the field of magnetic particles-based diagnostic devices, (ii) excellent career perspectives of these young researchers thanks to the multidisciplinary training they received and the formed wide network of academic and industrial collaborators and (iii) established collaborations among BioMaX partners that will be continuously explored in the framework of other EU projects as demonstrated with ongoing new initiatives. Contact details: jeroen.lammertyn@biw.kuleuven.be
