EpiSense

We, the Team Episense of KU Leuven, are a motivated group of 11 international students from various disciplines related to biology and united by our common passion for using technology to make the world a better place for all. Our goal is to combine our knowledge and employ our wits & skills to develop an outstanding biosensor!

Brought together under the guidance of the MeBioS biosensor group of prof. Jeroen Lammertyn, in this fifth edition of the SensUs competition, we plan to develop a viable point-of-care solution to detect the biomarker Valproate. Valproate is one of the drugs used in the treatment of epilepsy which affects almost 1% of the global population (more than 65 million people). Through our biosensor, we hope to make our small contribution to helping them and their families live better lives.

We are working towards this objective in two specialized groups focused on critical aspects of the biosensor development - bioassay team and technology team. Through regular guidance from our excellent coaches and vital feedback from prof. Jeroen Lamertyn, we are slowly but surely moving towards our goal. This is also an opportunity for us to learn and understand product development as well as to build our interpersonal skills and celebrate the different cultures from around the world.

Beware fellow teams, we will bring back gold! The seat of wisdom guides us in our quest!

About the supervisors

Jeroen Lammertyn is full professor in bionanotechnology at the KU Leuven, (co-)author of >300 peer reviewed publications, co-inventor of 10 patent applications and founder of the spin-off company FOx Biosystems. In 2005, he founded the MeBioS Biosensors research group, which closely follows the emerging field of food and medical diagnostics and is active in bio-assay development, optical biosensors, and microfluidics.

Seppe Driesen obtained a Master in Bioscience engineering (KU Leuven) in 2019, for which he submitted a thesis on the development of an FO-SPR biosensing concept based on the combination of DNA origami and aptamers. In the same year he started his PhD in the MeBioS Biosensors group (KU Leuven), where he is currently working on novel biosensing concepts based on DNA nanotechnology.

Sara graduated in Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Aveiro (Portugal). In July 2016, she started her PhD project in the Laboratory for Thrombosis Research (KULAK) in collaboration with the group of Prof. Jeroen Lammertyn (MeBioS, KU Leuven) and with Dr. Nick Geukens (PharmAbs, KU Leuven). Her research focusses on the development of new biosensing concepts for antigen-specific antibody detection.

Lorenz graduated in 2018 as a Bioscience Engineer with specialization in bionanotechnology and extra credits obtained from LCIE Entrepreneurship Academy. In the same year, he started his PhD in the Biosensors group (MeBioS) of prof. Jeroen Lammertyn. His research focuses on self-powered microfluidics for biofluid sampling and drug/vaccine delivery through microneedles.