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To participate in the SensUs High Schools Competition 2025, we kindly ask you to fill in the application form below. All students and teachers have to sign up individually. The deadline is Friday, January 10th 2025.

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Inspiring high school students about biosensor technology

About

In addition to the Student Competition, SensUs organizes the High Schools project. This project aims to motivate young talent for technology and encourage high school students to design their own biosensors. Each year, the project focuses on the corresponding theme of the SensUs Student Competition.

SensUs challenges high school students to develop a biosensor concept. This is done by providing them with an elaborate assignment that the students will work on from January until June. To engage the students even more in the project, they will visit the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) three times. The first time being a Kick-Off in February to give the students a head-start with their project and provide them with valuable information regarding the theme. Additionally, an experiment is set up to give the students a more practical insight into the subject, which is conducted in the laboratories at the TU/e. At the beginning of June, all high school students will present their final biosensor concepts and the winner will be graded on a final pitch, presentation, and the concept itself. This is taking the user and clinical relevance into account. The winning team is invited to present their developments at the end of August at the TU/e during the SensUs Event with a pitch, next to more than 150 students in the international Student Competition!

The pilot of the High School project was in 2016. Together with the Eindhoven School of Education (ESoE), the concept for the SensUs High Schools project was made. There were three participating groups from one high school. One of these groups even won the OMO-prize, which is the prize for the best ‘profielwerkstuk’ of the Dutch province North-Brabant.

 

Kidney failure, continuous biosensing

The theme of 2025

In 2025, SensUs again focuses on kidney failure, with the corresponding biomarker creatinine, as part of a 2-year cycle to make innovations in the field of continuous biosensing. In kidney failure, 80% to 95% of kidney function is lost and waste products like creatinine accumulate in the body. This leads to symptoms such as itchy skin, swelling, irregular urine, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, and muscle cramps. It is of high importance to continuously measure the level of creatinine, because it enables early detection of kidney failure and facilitates personalized treatment enhancements. The high school competition this year will focus on how continuous real-time biosensors can be applied to improve the home hemodialysis system for kidney failure patients.

 

 

Winners High Schools 2024

Rules

To participate in the SensUs High Schools project, the following guidelines apply:

  • The level of the project is most suitable for 4/5/6 VWO.
  • Advised are group sizes from 1-4, so individual participation is also possible.
  • Be willing to put effort into an extracurricular project, from February until July.
  • Be able to visit the Eindhoven University of Technology during the Kick-Off, Experiment day and Competition day
  • Be available at the end of August to attend the SensUs Event. 
  • The project can be combined with “profielwerkstuk (pws)”.
  • Participation in the competition is free; however, the costs for traveling to Eindhoven and parking are at the school's or student's expense.

Information Packages

Below the teacher manual and student manual for the assignment can be found once the High Schools Competition has started.

Contact

SensUs attaches great importance to stimulating young students for technical projects such as the High Schools project and thereby creating awareness for biosensors. By participating, high school students can experience what a technical study entails.

 

For more information or registration, please send a mail to [email protected]