Objective Drug use continues to be a problem of major concern for public authorities worldwide. According to the World Drug Report elaborated by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) approximately 207,000 drug-related deaths occur per year. With between 162 million and 324 million people aged 15-64 having used an illicit drug — mainly substances belonging to canabinoids, opioids, cocaine or amphetamine-type stimulants group — at least once in the previous year, drug abuse continues to have devastating consequences on human health. The methods currently used to identify illicit drugs, such as colour tests, lack selectivity, and need further confirmation by expensive and time consuming chromatography-mass spectrometry methods, thus it is imperative to develop new sensing technologies that allow a fast, sensitive and selective detection of illicit drugs. This project proposes to develop novel, inexpensive and portable multisensing devices adapted for the rapid on-site screening of a number of illicit drugs, using recent advances in biomimetic materials coupled with electrochemistry. The multisensing devices will facilitate (1) detection and capturing illicit drugs crossing borders and (2) identification of drug users (e.g. drivers of vehicles at roadside, employees at work places, prisoners). In addition to rapidity and high selectivity of the detection, the sensing strategies will also give informations about (1) the type of drug and cutting agents (2) amount of drug present in biological samples. Moreover, the strategies employed will bring insights for better understanding of biomimicking nanoplatforms leading to more efficient technologies in health and biotech. The achievement of the actions goal will lead to reducing the incidence and prevalence of illicit drugs use and to a better management of drug-related problems with high societal impact. The underlying technologies will open doors for a broader range of applications. Fields of science medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthengineering and technologymaterials engineeringcolorsmedical and health scienceshealth sciencessubstance abuseengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsengineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materials Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2016 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF Coordinator UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN Net EU contribution € 160 800,00 Address PRINSSTRAAT 13 2000 Antwerpen Belgium See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Antwerpen Arr. Antwerpen Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 160 800,00
