Proteins and even pieces of them (peptides) are important disease biomarkers and promising therapy targets with tremendous potential for precision medicine. Yet the implementation of novel therapies is facing challenges in terms of the variety of targets and subsequent specificity, sensitivity, throughput, and cost. ElectroMed is building a sensing platform with in-situ peptide synthesis that could overcome these issues. We have based our proposal on reliable silicon technology using Field Effect Transistors, which can be integrated in a fully automated electrochemical system. However, given the combinatorial variety of peptides, it is necessary to guide the selection of sequences. We will use known protein targets and T cell epitopes to demonstrate that our platform is able to detect immune responses from B-cells and guide the selection and discovery of T cell epitopes. Ultimately, the final prototype will be able to assist the selection and priorisation of neo-antigens for cancer vaccines based on exome-sequencing and mutational analysis.
ELECTROMED is a project launched in the framework of the FET-OPEN Action Grant agreement ID: 862539
ELECTROMED builds on the work done in previous initiatives (NANOpH), which explored the use of electrochemical sensors.
ELECTROMED is running from January 2020 until June 2023 and is structured into four Working Packages:
WP1: Multiplexed electrochemical peptide synthesis demonstration
WP2: FinFET sensor development
WP3: In situ programmable peptide µ-array proof of concept
WP4: Project management; dissemination, communication and exploitation