Smarter sensors that save lives: how innovation continues after MSCA

Earlier this month, Christoforos Panteli completed his Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship. Now, he's starting his own laboratory at the University of Cyprus.

When the COVID-19 pandemic ground the world to a halt, necessity turned into inspiration. Christoforos used the unexpected break to apply to MSCA with SepsISensoR, a device that monitors gas biomarkers in patients' breath to detect pre-symptomatic signs of sepsis.

Building on from the research and algorithms learned during his MSCA fellowship, Christoforos aims to develop intelligent sensors for various applications, helping fellow researchers to monitor metrics in sectors like health, environment, energy, robotics and more.

Christoforos, let's start from the beginning. How did you end up with the idea?

I was working on my PhD at Imperial College London on sensors with biomedical applications, and during some discussions with my supervisor we thought 'OK, we have a gas sensor that works - what can we do with it?'. We knew that alcohol can be found in exhaled breath, so why not other things? That was the first spark for breath analysis.

Later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I got in touch with Prof. Chrysafis Andreou in the University of Cyprus. We had back and forth discussions about writing a proposal for an MSCA project, and then SepsISensoR was born.

What plans do you now have in store for SepsISensoR?

The project has proven to be very strong in terms of robustness, and so it gives us a good foundation for future development.

The short-term plan is to spin off the technology for in-vitro tests and speed up the detection of infection in every hospital and microbiology lab. The current protocol for detecting the infection in vitro is 24 to 48 hours, while with our sensing system we can do it in two to ten hours.

Our dream is seeing our work being used in hospitals and patient care and we are working hard towards the goal of commercialising the research results.

Would you say that taking part in MSCA was crucial for your research?

Yes, 100 per cent! During the fellowship, I applied for a position at the University of Cyprus where I now am a lecturer. The fellowship just ended, but all good things end one day. So the fellowship was like a trampoline, let's say.

How would you describe the programme in one sentence?

It's in a way a super PhD. But the unique thing about it is the feeling of being part of a European family that gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your technology and work to the public.

It's a challenge but also a huge stepping stone to be able to independently carry out the huge workload of a PhD. It teaches you so many things on simple fundamental science: from generating an idea, writing it down, finding an application, making it useful, and also all the way down to finance and project management, collaborations and networking.

MSCA will turn 30 years old next year. How important is it for the future of research?

The programme speaks for itself. It is named after Marie Skłodowska-Curie, the only woman who won two Nobel Prizes - that's impressive and very inspiring. Another aspect is she discovered radioactivity, which is breaking down atomic nuclei to generate a chain reaction.

I do hope MSCA continues to generate a chain reaction for more science programmes, participants and projects to improve our world.

What question, not yet asked, do you wish more people would ask about your work?

That would be to name and analyse the challenges faced regularly in research. The end result may seem beautiful, but there were many ugly moments that had to be overcome to arrive to the results presented.

I would encourage young people to never give up, believe in themselves and work very, very hard to make their dreams come true!