04/10/2021

Summary of the SensUs Event 2021

On Friday, September 3rd, the SensUs 2021 Event took place at Eindhoven University of Technology. In this international event, fourteen student teams from thirteen countries competed to win awards for the best and most innovative biosensor to detect Influenza A, better known as the flu, to prevent the next pandemic. The biosensors were judged on four categories: public inspiration, creativity, translation potential, and analytical performance.

The live-streamed SensUs Event was presented by the master of ceremonies, Annabel Romijn. The stream reached nearly 1000 people worldwide and over 4000 people cast their votes. The event started with kick-off pitches that gave the teams the opportunity to introduce themselves and their innovative biosensor designs. Thereafter, the teams presented their biosensors to the professional jury, who judged them on translation potential and creativity. Simultaneously, the online partner stands were taking place, a networking opportunity to meet all partners of SensUs.

The winners of the separate SensUs High School Competition, the students of the Van Maerlantlyceum in Eindhoven, pitched their self-made innovative biosensor design concept. This was followed by a very interesting keynote lecture: “Influenza: Do we really need all these different diagnostic tools?” by Dr. Bart van Meerbergen. The lecture led to an in-depth discussion on the different technologies for detecting Influenza and their applications in society.

Keynote lecture by Dr. Bart van Meerbergen

Next, the teams were no longer being held in suspense and the award ceremony could begin. The Public Inspiration Award winner, chosen by the public via online voting, was Team PULSe from Belgium. The award for most creative biosensor was also won by Team PULSe. Thereafter, the Translation Potential Award winner was announced, namely Team T.E.S.T. from Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Finally, the Analytical Performance Award, determined by the results of the Distributed Testing Event earlier in the week, was won by SenSwiss from Switzerland. After all the award celebrations, Prof. Dr. Menno Prins, founder of the SensUs Competition, closed off the event by revealing the theme of SensUs 2022: Acute inflammation, with a focus on sepsis.

We thank everybody for helping to make SensUs 2021 a success, and we hope to see you again in the next edition of SensUs!