Kick-off meeting of the SMILE project!
SMILE KO Meeting © 2026 EPFL
On 12-13 February 2026, we officially launched the SMILE project at the Kick-Off Meeting which was held at SUPSI in Lugano. We are very grateful to Dr Igor Stefanini for the great organization of this meeting and the visit of SUPSI laboratories and infrastructure.
The SMILE project aims at the development of a microfluidic-based point-of-care diagnostic device for the detection and identification of the main respiratory viruses responsible for severe lower respiratory tract infections in young children. The system will be specifically designed for future deployment in low-and middle-income countries.
All partner teams - SUPSI (PI: Dr Igor Stefanini), EPFL (PI: Prof. Sandrine Gerber), Swiss TPH (PI: Prof. Daniel Paris), CSRS (PI: Prof. Benjamin Koudou) - presented their expertise and planned activities in the frame of the project. It was the occasion for Dr Perrine Robin and Sarah Marroquin Burgos to present our previous work in the field of DNA bioosensors and the challenges which will be adressed in the SMILE project to combine capacitive detection and fluorescence discrimination within the same system.
Swiss National Science Foundation - Grant N° CR00-5-239803
Saliva-based MIcrofluidic “Lab-on-chip” devicE for Paediatric Respiratory Viral Illness diagnostics.