The SIMS project team, including the BDI has won a prestigious international award for their research. The SIMS Project was awarded the prize for best publicly funded project at the organic and printed electronics conference, LOPE-C 2013, in Munich on the 12th June 2013, which is organised by the Organic Electronics Association (OE-A). The team has developed a revolutionary diagnostic device for measuring cholesterol by integrating a printed biosensor with a display and battery onto a flexible plastic substrate. The concept was demonstrated with a prototype at the conference. Dr. Aoife Morrin (BDI academic member) and Prof. Tony Killard (BDI Adjunct Professor) are part of the winning SIMS multidisciplinary team that is led out of the University of the West of England by Prof. Killard. The other consortium members across Europe are the University of Liverpool (UK), Fraunhofer ENAS (Germany), Alere (UK) and VTT (Finland). The SIMS prototype effectively demonstrated execution of an analytical sensor measurement in a new type of diagnostic device using a fully integrated printed sensor, powered by an on-board printed battery. The measurement performed by the biosensor is read out by a printed electrochromic display element that is also on-board the device. It has demonstrated levels of component integration beyond any other current technology.

The project is funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] ICT funding scheme under grant agreement no. 257372 and receipt of this prize demonstrates the world-leading nature of the biosensor development and communications aspects being performed at the BDI.