SCALPEL Project to Develop Scalable Microfluidic Platform that Analyzes and Sorts Single Cells to greatly simplify Cancer Research and Treatment follow up.
Leuven (Belgium) – January 15, 2014 – Imec, a world leading nanoelectronics research center, proudly announces that Prof. Dr. Liesbet Lagae, R&D Manager Life Science Technologies at imec and professor in Nanobio Physics at KU Leuven, has been awarded a Consolidator Grant for her research project SCALPEL* by the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC grant is the most prestigious grant for top researchers in the European Union. The grant funding, with a budget of 2 MEuro and for the duration of 5 years, will lead to the development of a high-content, high-throughput cell imaging and sorting device, that is more compact and easier to use than any existing single cell analyzer. The new device should support the work of pathologists, surgeons, and nurses and aims to improve the individualized follow-up and survival rate of cancer patients.

The single cell analyzer that Prof. Dr. Lagae and her team will develop for the SCALPEL project is based on lens free digital imaging to analyze the physical morphology of single cells flowing at high speeds through a microfluidic network with gentle cell sorting switches to route the cells towards different outlets. It thus combines the virtues of microscopic ‘high content’ imaging with the virtues of automated ‘high throughput’ single cell analysis and sorting at a fraction of the cost. Because all optomechanical components, such as lenses, detectors, and nozzles, are replaced by nanoelectronics and advanced signal processing technology, the devices will be cheap and compact.

Currently, single cell analysis remains tedious with many different instruments and protocols, typically taking a few days of intense, hands-on work. The process not only slows down research, but also hinders the translation to application in clinical practice.

Billions of dollars have been spent trying to cure primary tumors, but very little was spent in trying to detect or kill circulating tumor cells causing metastasis. Metastasis is responsible for more than 90 percent of cancer-related deaths, and originates from single circulating tumor cells, spreading via the blood stream to seed new tumors. Detection of those highly aggressive circulating tumor cells at an early stage would greatly improve the chance of survival. This is an example of an application that could greatly benefit from the ‘SCALPEL’ cell sorter. Prof. Lagae will collaborate with Prof. Deniz Wirtz from John’s Hopkins INBT and Prof. Johan Swinnen from KU Leuven’s dept. of oncology for showing the potential of the device in metastasis detection.

ERC is a flagship component of the ‘Ideas Programme’ of the European Union’s Seventh Research Framework Program (FP7). Through open competition it awards grants to projects led by top researchers in Europe. With scientific excellence being the sole criterion for selection, the ERC’s aim is to recognize the best ideas, and retain and confer status and visibility to the best brains in Europe, while also attracting talent from abroad. By challenging Europe's brightest minds, the ERC expects that its grants will help to bring about new and unpredictable scientific and technological discoveries—the kind that can form the basis of new industries, markets, and broader social innovations of the future.

*SCALPEL: Single Cell AnaLysis and Sorting Platform based on Lensfree digital imaging applied to Rapid Cancer Detection

Institute Highlights Most Notable Contributions to Advancing Worldwide Semiconductor, Life Science, Wireless and Energy Technologies

Leuven, Belgium (Jan. 14, 2014) — World-leading nanotechnology research and development center imec, today announced the celebration of its 30th anniversary. Founded in 1984 as a non-profit organization, imec has grown to be a multi-disciplinary expertise center in the fields of semiconductor chips and systems, electronics for life sciences, body area networks, energy, photovoltaics, sustainable wireless communication, image sensors and vision systems, and flexible electronics and displays. Through innovations in nanoelectronics, imec has collaborated with numerous partners from universities, research institutes and top companies, creating solutions and developing emerging technology for a sustainable environment.

In the domain of semiconductor technologies, imec has enabled notable advancements in global semiconductor chip manufacturing in the three decades since its founding. At the forefront in advancing immersion lithography, EUV, double patterning imec has driven lithography as a key solution to overcome the challenges in scaling down features in silicon chips. In 2013, imec and ASML, broadened their partnership with the launch of a Patterning Center. When complete, this Center will offer the global semiconductor ecosystem the most advanced patterning knowledge for sub-10nm technologies, crucial to addressing future scaling and infrastructure challenges. This Center will be extended through partnerships with other suppliers into a ‘Suppliers Hub’, to collaborate on the development of next generation process technology solutions.

Launched in 2003, imec’s research platform addressed the needs of the semiconductor value chain during the crucial transition from 200mm to 300mm silicon wafers as a manufacturing standard. The platform allows companies to collaborate on advanced process module and device research, targeting technology generations two to three nodes ahead of state-of-the-art IC production. Today, this initiative has evolved to a global collaboration platform with global industry leaders such as Intel, Samsung, TSMC, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Micron, SK Hynix, Toshiba, SanDisk, Panasonic, Sony, Qualcomm, Altera, Fujitsu, nVidia, Xilinx, and others, driving semiconductor industry innovations.

Imec’s main achievements in semiconductor process technology research include:
1) Development of sub-22nm process technologies: From silicides to copper (Cu), to the introduction of low-k and high-k/metal gates, imec’s R&D has explored techniques to overcome interconnect metallization issues. In 2013, imec demonstrated the world’s first 3D compound semiconductor FinFET. Integrating III-V and silicon materials on the same 300mm silicon wafer through a unique silicon fin replacement process, imec demonstrated progress toward continued CMOS scaling at 7nm and below, enabling future hybrid CMOS-RF and CMOS-optoelectronics.
2) Contributions to manufacturability and circuit performance of advanced devices: Imec’s outstanding cleaning expertise has resulted in wafer cleaning solutions with high particle removal efficiency and minimal chemical use. The Rotagoni™ cleaning method, developed in 2001, solved the challenges faced by single-wafer wet cleaning. Also, imec pioneered research on 3D integrated circuits as a potential road to build more complex, more powerful and more cost-effective electronic systems, combining different types of functionalities on an ever smaller footprint. In 2008, imec demonstrated, for the first time ever, 3D integrated circuits.

Imec’s innovation in nanoelectronics has been a driver for developments in many other domains including healthcare, energy, photovoltaics, communications, and mobility, where imec has applied its semiconductor technology expertise. In 2013, imec’s life science research gained momentum by forging new R&D collaborations with Johns Hopkins University, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Pacific Biosciences, Panasonic, JSR, and others. Such collaborations will lead to breakthroughs in healthcare with the development of the next generation of “lab on chip” concepts, powerful supercomputers for life sciences research, and sensor array tools to advance neuroscience research.

“It’s our ambition to further position imec as a unique innovation hub for Europe and the world, where disruptive technology ideas are generated and come to fruition,” stated Luc Van den hove, president and chief executive officer at imec. “We welcome scientists, researchers and engineers from companies of various fields to collaborate with us as they advance and tune their innovations. Imec has proven to be the birthplace of new discoveries, and we confidently look forward to the next 30 years of innovation that will be the backbone of the solutions that will help make the world a better, more sustainable place.”

Learn more about our plans for the future and meet us at one of the 30th anniversary editions of our IMEC TECHNOLOGY FORUM in Seoul, Brussels, San Francisco, Taipei and Tokyo, attended by industry leaders and visionaries from all over the globe.

Check our new digital magazine on www.imec.be/imecmagazine and watch out for more to come on www.imec.be