ElectroChemiLuminescence doctoral network for early sepsis diagnosis

Sepsis and bacterial infections are leading causes of death in hospitals with more than 500 thousand casualties yearly. The early infection diagnosis as well as early microbial treatment are of great importance. However, effective treatment is hampered by misuse of antimicrobial drugs, leading to resistant bacterial pathogens, high risks of infection recurrence and patient mortality as well as increased medical costs. Thus, there is a need for fast and reliable sensors systems for diagnosis of sepsis reducing the time-to-report from several days or weeks to hours, facilitating the early delivery of appropriate anti- bacteria therapy.

ECLectic network will address the worldwide problem of sepsis and bacterial infection by developing the next generation of sensing platforms, providing entirely new diagnostic paradigms. ECLectic will develop, optimize, and assess novel biosensors based on electrochemiluminescence by combining different nano- and microstructured materials and fluidic devices. ECLectic will ultimately result in novel fast and reliable point-of-care devices with applications of bacterial infection analysis, monitoring of disease recurrence, and progression. It will close the gap between innovative research in the field of nanostructured materials and their application in biosensing technology.

ECLectic will create a Center of Excellence in Europe for the training of young researchers in the research and development of sensing platforms for bacterial infection and sepsis. By training, ECLectic will provide highly skilled European researchers for academic research in biodetection, materials, microfluidics and electrochemistry as well as for the European biosensor industry. ECLectic will generate a flexible cluster of excellent young researchers ready to tackle the European challenges in the development of novel detection platform for bacterial infection. They will be trained well to become leaders in industrial as well as academic research and development.