"Molecular biosensors for continuous patient monitoring will help to make healthcare truly personal"

Together with academic colleagues, students, industrial and societal partners, I am on a journey to develop technologies that will enable real-time continuous measurements of biomolecular concentrations, for applications in biological research, the monitoring and control of patients in healthcare, the monitoring and control of biotechnological production processes, and the monitoring of ecological systems. My goals are to develop new technologies, to train students to become scientists and engineers, and to actively introduce solutions for societal needs.

The continuous sensing technologies we are developing are based on reversible single-molecule interactions for the continuous monitoring of biomolecules at low concentrations, in nanomolar and picomolar concentration ranges. Detection is based on reversible biophysical principles that do not consume or produce any biochemical reagents. Biosensing by particle motion (BPM) is a new methodology based on the tracking of the motion of hundreds to thousands of biofunctionalized particles on a biofunctionalized sensing surface. The individual particles switch reversibly between bound and unbound states due to single-molecular interactions between particle and surface, in dependence of analyte molecules in solution.

We develop trans-disciplinary research approaches, including molecular bioengineering, advanced data analysis, and optical microscopies. We have a comprehensive research program that addresses basic scientific topics, bioanalytical topics, system topics, as well as applications. The research activities are part of the TU/e Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS) and of the TU/e Health domain.

My educational activites involve the guidance of student projects, regular courses, and the SensUs track in the Honors Academy. My basic approach in education is to challenge students to look at the world along three perspectives: ‘how does it work’ (science), ‘how can you make it functional’ (technology), and ‘how can you make a change’ (innovation and entrepreneurship).

Beyond education and research, the main impacts achieved over the past years have been the founding and development of the SensUs international student competition (www.sensus.org) and of spin-off company Helia Biomonitoring (www.heliabiomonitoring.com).

Menno Prins studied Applied Physics at Université Paris XI and Delft University of Technology where he obtained his MSc degree cum laude. He received his PhD from Radboud University Nijmegen in 1995. He then moved to Philips Research where he worked on microfluidics and point-of-care biosensing. In 2005, he was appointed as part-time professor at Eindhoven University of Technology in the department of Applied Physics. In 2014, he was appointed full Professor in Molecular Biosensing in the departments of Biomedical Engineering (BME) and Applied Physics and Science Education (APSE).