PARTNERS
The consortium is trans-trandisciplinary and possesses the broad expertise in:
- Microfluidics
- Lab-on-a-Chip
- Microsystems Engineering
- Molecular Diagnostics
- Biomimetic Hydrogel Synthesis
- GMP Production of Cellular Therapeutics
- Advanced Light Microscopy, High-throughput Screening, High-content Imaging
- Application of Biochemical Assays
Several consortium partners have already cooperated with each other and have long-standing common interests.
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Microsystems engineering,
Microfluidics 
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Biomedical and biomolecular health solutions,
Resource exploitation
and management 
The Lab-on-a-Chip business unit in Freiburg dedicates its research since 2002 to the development of customized Lab-on-a-Chip systems and microfluidic platforms for biological applications; simulation and prototyping; fast, inexpensive development and full transfer/implementation of biochemical assays from the lab to integrated and portable systems at the point-of-care. Its infrastructure includes prototyping and pilot line for microfluidics fabrication and packaging. Life science facilities include S2 and S3** laboratories for in-house assay validation.
They are also in charge of the transfer of developed assays and protocols from tube to disc, and the sample processing on the disc using microfluidic unit operations.
Project coordinator, in charge of the microfluidic design, simulation, and integration; transfer of developed assays and protocols from tube to disc; cartridge fabrication and packaging. Role in DIAGORAS
Dr. Konstantinos Mitsakakis is a Physicist with an MSc on Nanoscience & Nanotechnology. He acquired his doctoral degree (2010) in Materials Science & Technology, working on the development of a multi-analyte acoustic biosensing platform for cardiac marker detection.
Dr. Konstantinos Mitsakakis has a track record in the acquisition and management of national Fellowships and EC research projects. He joined the LOAC group at HS-IMIT with a Humboldt Foundation fellowship and is currently the coordinator of the FP7-ICT project DiscoGnosis. He is author of 13 publications with several contributions in international conferences. His research interests lie in the field of micro/nanotechnology for life sciences and diagnostics, biosensor technologies, microfluidics, lab-on-a-chip and microanalytical systems.
Email: konstantinos.mitsakakis@hahn-schickard.de
Phone: +49 761 203 73 252
Dr. Mara Specht
Biochemical assays expert
Email: mara.specht@hahn-schickard.de
Dr. Jan Lüddecke
Biochemical assays expert
Email: jan.lueddecke@hahn-schickard.de
Dr. Markus Rombach
Microfluidic integration in LabDisk
Email: markus.rombach@hahn-schickard.de
Benita Johannsen
PhD candidate, Microfluidic integration of immunoassays and Nucleic acid assays
Email: benita.johannsen@hahn-schickard.de
Nicola Gepperth
Dissemination activities
Email: nicola.gepperth@hahn-schickard.de
Within the Health & Environment Department, the Molecular Diagnostics business unit is aimed at identifying effective ways for early diagnosis of age-related diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and fibrotic diseases as well as infection diagnostics. They develop biomarkers based on nucleic acids and proteins (especially autoantibodies, DNA methylation patterns, pathogen genotyping and antibiotic resistance testing), and highly sensitive and specific biosensor systems for medical diagnostics which can be integrated into portable devices.
It also has to deal with saliva sampling strategy.
Work package leader on nucleic acid assay development – WP4. AIT designs, develops and validates POC compatible assays for viral and bacterial identification and antibiotic resistance testing.Role in DIAGORAS
Dr. Johannes Peham holds a M.Sc. degree of Cranfield University, UK in molecular medicine and received his PhD in electrical engineering from the Vienna University of Technology.
His research focus lies on microdevices for molecular diagnostics and the development of Point of Care compatible assays. Examples are microfluidic PCR and immunoassays, biosensors, microfluidics, miniaturised sample preparation devices and automated DNA, RNA and protein assays which is also reflected in his national and European funded projects (FFG, H2020).
Dr. Peham is heading the highly interdisciplinary group System Integration and Point of Care Devices where he supervises several PhD Students. His group is part of the business unit Molecular Diagnostics of the Austrian Institute of Technology which has a major focus on salivary diagnostics in the human and veterinary field. The major aim is to combine biochemical salivary assays with miniaturized sensing and processing platforms, to achieve fully integrated and superior point of care diagnostic devices.
Email: Johannes.peham@ait.ac.at
Phone: +43505504304
PhD student, Assay design, POC compatible assay development, assay validation, assay transfer, reagent storage
Email: christopher.herz@ait.ac.at
Nadezdha Kataeva
Scientist, Assay development and validation
Email: nadezdha.kataeva@ait.ac.at
Ulrich Giese
Senior Scientist, Reagent storage, quality control, assay transfer, data analysis
Email: ulrich.giese@ait.ac.at,
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Teaching, research activities and patient treatment in dental disciplines,
Clinical studies 
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Oral Microbiology and Immunology,
Detection assays for oral bacteria
The research at ZZM is organised around specific clinically or biomedically relevant problems, and benefits our dentists and thereby patient treatment, while it facilitates novel diagnostic and therapeutic methods. As an internationally approved clinic centre, education centre and research centre, it unites six specified clinics and institutes. About 130 dentists are working towards improving the dental state of our patients, and subsequently, their quality of life.
The Centre of Dental Medicine checks regularly its quality facilities for high quality services to the patients.
Project leader, University Zurich
Role in DIAGORAS
Prof. Dr. Thomas Attin acquired the dental state exam in 1989 at the University of Marburg, where he received his Doctorate in 1991.
From 1989-1999 he worked at the universities in Heidelberg, Cologne and Freiburg i. Brg. and in a dental practice. In 1999 he became acting head at Freie Universität Berlin as a visiting professor. 2000 he was appointed full Professor at the University of Göttingen.
In 2006 he was appointed a full professor at the Center for Dentistry (ZZM), University of Zurich, where he has since also be a director of the Clinic for Preventive Dentistry, Periodontology and Cariology. Since 2013 He is head of the Centre for Dentistry (ZZM).
His research focuses on conservative dentistry with a focus on Preventive Dentistry and Cariology.
Involved in studies focussing on periodontitis
Email: patrick.schmidlin@zzm.uzh.ch
Florian J. Wegehaupt
Involved in studies focussing on caries
Email: florian.wegehaupt@zzm.uzh.ch
Pune Nina Twakoli
Involved in studies on caries and periodontitis
Email: punenina.tawakoli@zzm.uzh.ch
Andreas Bindl
Involved as external advisor for oral infections
Email: andreas.bindl@bluewin.ch
Principal Investigator – Coordinator of personnel and resources of UZH(OMI)Role in DIAGORAS
Dr. Thomas Thurnheer studied Natural Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland (1979) and attained his PhD in microbiology at the Institute of Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (1988).
He worked as post-doctoral research associate at the Institute of Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, supervising a project oriented study entitled „Biodegradation of sulfonated aromatic compounds“ and was IT officer at the institute (1988). From 1989-1992 he worked for Hebeco SA, Wattwil, Switzerland as leader of R&D and production of enzymatic products for waste water treatment.
Since 1993 he works at the Section of Oral Microbiology and Immunology at the Center of Dental Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland first as post-doctoral research associate (research field: production of monoclonal antibodies for the identification of oral bacteria in plaque) and afterwards (2000-today) as scientific researcher at the same institution.
Since then, his research focused on investigations of the 3D-structure of oral biofilms using confocal microscopy as well as the identification of oral bacteria by fluorescent in situ hybridization. Since 2012 he is project leader of the biofilm group and since 2016 he is the Head of the Section of Oral Microbiology and Immunology. His research expertise lies in oral microbiology as well as in modern techniques for the identification of microbes such as fluorescent in situ hybridization or confocal microscopy. The study of multispecies oral biofilm models are the primeline of his research in order to elucidate (i) physiology and 3D structure of biofilms under changing conditions and (ii) interactions between biofilm and host cells.
Email: thomas.thurnheer@zzm.uzh.ch
Dr. Thomas Thurnheer
Principal Investigator – Coordinator of personnel and resources of UZH(OMI)
Email: thomas.thurnheer@zzm.uzh.ch
Dr. Kai Bao
Post-doc – execution of WP4 and WP5 experimental tasks, compilation and interpretation of data
Email: kai.bao@zzm.uzh.ch
Ms. Helga Lüthi-Schaller
Research laboratory technician – execution of WP4 experimental tasks, compilation and interpretation of data
Email: helga.luthi-schaller@zzm.uzh.ch
Ms. Christine Lämmler
Administrator of UZH(OMI)
Email: christine.laemmler@zzm.uzh.ch
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Clinical, Pre-Clinical and Health research 
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Mechanical and optical design,
Electronics and software design,
Biological applications
System engineering 
The entire spectrum of medical science converges at Erasmus MC, with the organisation including a specialised children’s hospital (Erasmus MC –SOPHIA) and cancer centre (Erasmus MC Cancer Institute). In addition to medical-based research, the collaboration between the departments of Erasmus MC allows substantial translational research.
Besides, Eramus MC supplies bacterial isolates and antimicrobial resistances to project partners; routine diagnostics; future-proofing studies; and is developing a central server for data processing.
Finally, Eramus MC is in charge of the presentation of DIAGORAS results, and coordinates activities between the departments.
Scientific Research, Proposal Development and Project Coordination of the various tasks assigned to the different EMC departments involved in the DIAGORAS project.
Role in DIAGORAS
Dr. Hays is an associate professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam (EMC) who has worked in several fields of microbiological research.
He has a special interest in developing cross-cutting research ideas and implementing technological-based studies. Dr. Hays has been involved in 7 EU projects (3 as coordinator) and is currently interested in [cross-cutting research areas relating to] POCT diagnostics, antibiotic resistance and the human microbiota.
E-mail: j.hays@erasmusmc.nl
Phone: +31 (0) 107032177
Dr. W. KamanDepartment of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases – Bacteriological Diagnostics
Email: w.kaman@erasmusmc.nl
Dr. Richard Molenkamp
Viroscience – Virology Diagnostics
Email: r.molenkamp@erasmusmc.nl
Dr. G. Elshout
Department of General Practice – Family Doctor Issues
Email: g.elshout@erasmusmc.nl
Dr. A. Stubbs
Department of Bioinformatics – Bioinformatics Issues
Email: a.stubbs@erasmusmc.nl
Dr. S.C.E. Klein Nagelvoort – Schuit
Head of Emergency Department – DIAGORAS Evaluation Testing in the Clinical Situation
Email: s.schuit@erasmusmc.nl
Prof. H. Moll
Head of General Paediatrics Department – DIAGORAS Evaluation Testing of the Clinical Situation
Email: h.a.moll@erasmusmc.nl
ASKION has also the capability to handle all disciplines of a complex development for medical devices in house, and can assure system verification and validation.
Reader assembly and system integration
Role in DIAGORAS
Mr. Lutz Doms is a mechanical engineer.
Different stations in his career were R&D employment at companies like Zeiss, Agfa and Bayer. For Bayer he worked as an R&D manager for diagnostics instrumentation and lab automation for five years in the USA.
He was the cofounder of ASKION in 2005 with the main responsibility for R&D in the company.
Email: info@askion.com
Phone: 0049 365 7353 0
Maik Angermann – R&D Systems Engineering
Mathias Rabsahl – R&D Systems Engineering
Bernd Brieger – Parts Production
Juergen Krueger – Parts Production
Harald Werner – Parts Production
Mathias Steinbrügger – Parts Production
André Liebsch – R&D Software Development
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Customized magnetic beads development and commercialization,
Proteins’ isolation protocols development 
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Data analysis,
Software development,
Consultancy services in the the clinical and diagnositcs field 
MMD develops protocols for the isolation of proteins and nucleic acids to be used in ready-to-use-kits (i.e : the purification of sequencing and PCR reactions, isolation of genomic DNA from blood, plants or bacteria).
The SME is also able to isolate bacterial DNA from human blood with minimum contamination of human DNA ; and has recently developed solutions for matrix clean-up that can be applied to proteomics, genomics, toxicology, pharmaceutical,and food applications.
One further specialty of MMD is the labelling of reagents and beads with fluorescent probes (MagSi-Fluor), among which MM-Dots.
MagnaMedics is proactively supporting the Consortium partners actions aiming to reach the planned milestones and deliverables of the project.
Managing MMD’s participation in the projectRole in DIAGORAS
Dr. Sven Goethel joined MMD in early 2007 as educated biochemist and molecular biologist.
In his role as Application Manager he is responsible for the execution of client and project specific magnetic particle developments and the development of bead handling protocols with focus on protein and peptide applications.
Email: sgo@magnamedics.com
Phone: +31 46 82 00 206
Email: vru@magnamedics.com
Sven Gorthels
Email: sgo@magnamedics.com
Mieke Hertogs-Goebbels
Email: mgo@magnamedics.com
Birgit Neumann
Email: bne@magnamedics.com
Jules Souren
Email: jso@magnamedics.com
In particular, CGO supports small/medium biotechnology companies and research groups during the development of diagnostic tests requiring complex IT infrastructure, analysis and software validation for upcoming clinical applications.
Integration of Diagoras’ data analysis and reporting into ClinicaGeno’s CHUB platform.Role in DIAGORAS
Dr. Michie is ClinicaGeno’s director in Europe and holds a Bioinformatics PhD from University College London and an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management. He has extensive experience in cross-domain projects bridging diverse areas of science and IT.
Alexanders’s experience is particularly in projects that are related to scientific data analysis and FDA/EU medical device submissions where compliance to regulatory standards is critical.
Email: alex@clinicageno.com
Phone: +44 20 36523499
Algorithm and clinical validation
Email: thomas@clinicageno.com
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Immunodiagnostic kits development and marketing,
Monoclonal, polyclonal antibodies production 
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Science communication
Communication strategy and planning,
Dissemination activitesThe consortium gratefully acknowledges Sparks & Co for their professional cooperation during the first three years of the project and wishes to their personnel all the best for their new career opportunities.
Dissemination activities from month 36 till end of the project are taken over by the Coordinator, Hahn-Schickard
The Research & Diagnostic Products division of BioVendor focuses on the discovery, development and marketing of innovative immunodiagnostic kits and related monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies as well as recombinant and native proteins.
BioVendor develops immunoassays for the detection of newly identified protein markers in samples of human or animal origin. The development of new kits is targeted at research groups within the international scientific community as well as for clinical laboratory applications.
R&D efforts are aimed at rapidly growing fields of interest within the international research and diagnostic community, such as obesity/metabolic syndrome/diabetes, cardiovascular physiology, renal disease and injury, bone metabolism/osteoporosis, infection/inflammation, oncology/tumor markers and more.
The SME is also leader on system specifications and quality control parameters for the evaluation of processes involved in the project – WP2.
Another objective for Biovendor is to define an exploitation plan for the commercialisation of the DIAGORAS final platform.
Horizon 2020 research projects deserve the best communication strategy and that is why Sparks & Co had entered the DIAGORAS project as Communication and Dissemination partner.
Their activities ranged from creating a visual identity for a project, creating the right communication materials – cleverly targeted to reach the designated audiences – designing and regularly updating the project’s website, handling press relations, developing a social media strategy to best suit the project needs and measuring research outcomes impact.
Managing communication and dissemination actions to maximize project impact and handling internal communicationRole in DIAGORAS
Ms. Caroline Estephan is Work Package leader for communication and dissemination activities, managing both scientific, technical partners and her team (designer and programmer) to provide the project the best communication strategy as well as a smooth implementation for maximum project impact.
She is educated in marketing and communication (Novancia Business School Paris) with a strong interest in research and innovation. She has gained experience in various specialties ranging from marketing, internal communications, business development in both small start-ups or banking companies (Société Générale). She has joined Sparks & Co in 2015 to become Project Manager and is now WP leader of two Horizon 2020 projects in health research.
Email: caroline@sparksandco.com
Phone: +33 7 68 35 00 60
Contributes to the communication and dissemination strategy
Email: camille@sparksandco.com
Pauline Assadi
Communication assistant
Email: pauline@sparksandco.com
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Teaching, research activities and patient treatment in dental disciplines 
The Department conducts broad ranging research in the field of oral health with the objective of contributing to the improvement of human oral health and preventing and treating oral disease. The Karolinska Institutet Huddinge Campus offers excellent opportunities for conducting odontological research of high international class. The laboratories are well designed and contain high quality equipment. Its proximity to Novum, the Centre for Biosciences, Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge, and Södertörn University College helps to create a unique, creative and dynamic environment.
The Department conducts education at first (Bachelor’s) and third (Doctoral) level, with currently some 500 first-level students and 40 doctoral students.
Principal Investigator – Coordination of tasks related to the development and application of the O-Disc Role in DIAGORAS
Prof. Georgios Belibasakis studied Dentistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (1999), attained a PhD in Oral Microbiology at Umea University, Sweden (2004), and an MSc in Periodontology at Queen Mary University of London – QMUL (2009).
He worked as post-doc at King’s College London (2005) and as a Lecturer in Oral Biology at QMUL (2005-2009), before moving to Zurich (2009) to become Head of Section of Oral Microbiology and Immunology (2011) and attain his Habilitation (2012) and professorship in Oral Microbiology and Immunology (2014).
He has authored approximately 100 peer-reviewed publications in dental and biomedical journals, and is Associate Editor and Editorial Board member in several international journals. In 2012 he received the prestigious “Anthony Rizzo Young Investigator Award” of the International Association for Dental Research. His studies focus on the interactions between oral bacteria and the host for the establishment of infection, and on molecular diagnostics for oral diseases, giving equal gravity to microbial and host moieties.
Since July 2016 he is appointed as Professor of Clinical Oral Infection Biology, and Head of the Division of Cariology and Endodontics, at the Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Email: george.belibasakis@ki.se
Phone: 0046-8-52488002
Prof. Nagihan Bostanci
Principal Investigator – Coordination of WP5 tasks for O-Disc
Email: nagihan.bostanci@ki.se
Prof. Georgios Belibasakis
Principal Investigator – Coordination of WP4 tasks for O-Disc
Email: george.belibasakis@ki.se