Researchers at IPIC, the Research Ireland centre for Photonics based at Tyndall National Institute, have been awarded European funding worth €750,000.
Building on the success of the MedPhab project, PhotonMed aims to accelerate uptake of the latest photonics technologies in medical device applications.
Quality management methodology
PhotonMed leverages on the established, accelerated medical device development approach pioneered within the framework of Medphab, but as a research project will focus on developing new technologies and introducing these technologies to the quality management methodology developed within Medphab.
The PhotonMed project advances photonics technologies applicable to medical device solutions. The key purpose of the PhotonMed pilot line is to accelerate the commercialisation of new concepts.
The application domains of PhotonMed technologies cover in-vitro diagnostics, in-vivo diagnostics and personalised monitoring. PhotonMed project is applied to continuously renewing the technology offering and to invite new members to join the ecosystem. Key photonics technologies include light sources, integrated optics, fibre optics, advanced packaging, microfluidics and reader instrumentation.
Tyndall is national coordinator and lead of Work Package 2 ('Advanced Integration'), which is focused on the further development of manufacturing technologies which integrate eg different optical components, biomolecules and microfluidic parts to the different platforms for various use cases.
The first is based on the development of an in-vivo pilot case medical application (in collaboration with Sanmina) and the other with Ficontec which concerns the development of a micro-imager for a cathether for in-vivo surgical guidance and functional endoscopy.
The outcomes from PhotonMed will strengthen Tyndall expertise and capability in the medical devices research and development area. This project will also allow Tyndall to have a substantial engagement with two industry partners and help them develop their research capabilities in line with the expectation of the national funder and with Tyndall’s remit as a national lab. The projects align with local research plans to develop a biophotonics microcamera system.
National biophotonics pilot line
Ray Burke, senior technology and principal investigator at IPIC, said: “I am honoured to be participating in an exciting project with two highly regarded national partners as it helps us to deliver on a longer-term goal of developing a national biophotonics pilot line. In addition, this project helps us to maintain our place at the cutting edge of European biomedical research.”
Martin O’Connell, EU programme manager at IPIC, said: “It is great to see the developments pioneered by Medphab to be further implemented in the exciting new use-cases to be developed in PhotonMed and I look forward to seeing the results of these.”
PhotonMed runs from September 2024 to August 2027 and brings together a consortium of 39 partners from nine countries (coordinated by VTT), featuring a broad set of competencies to cover the full development chain from concepting to industrial fabrication: research organisations, supplier industry, end-user companies and regulatory support.
Within the PhotonMed project, technology suppliers develop their technology offering while the end-user companies receive matured demonstrators based on the latest research results.