Ville de Lausanne award 2016 – Camilla Baj-Rossi

“For designing and characterizing a fully-implantable biosensor matrix for laboratory animals, to support drug development and for future applications in personalized medicine.”

The goal of this thesis was the design, fabrication and testing of an implantable device for the real-time detection of endogenous and exogenous metabolites in small animals tested during drug development for future applications of personalized medicine. The implantable device consists of a detection platform, integrated circuits and a system of membranes. The passive detection platform is realized as an array of four independent electrochemical sensors, with the addition of a pH sensor and a temperature sensor to optimize the sensing performance in different physiological conditions. The integrated circuits are designed to perform multiple electrochemical measurements, and a powering system wirelessly transmits the power to the circuits and data to an external device. A system of membranes provides at the same time biocompatibility and selectivity.

Four anti-cancer drugs and an anti-inflammatory drug were successfully monitored in-vitro within the pharmacological ranges in human serum. The biocompatibility of the packaging was assessed by implanting the device in living mice, showing after 30 days a significant reduction of the inflammatory response in time, thus suggesting normal host recovery. The capability of the device to continuously monitor drugs and metabolites was finally proved with in-vivo tests in living mice, demonstrating the proof-of-concept of the system for future personalized medicine applications.