SERENE-IoT Project: How the Maturation Cycle Allows the Correct Development Process of Innovative Technologies in the Healthcare Domain.

This article illustrates the maturation process of innovative technologies in the healthcare domain. The role and the involvement of the stakeholders are explained, as well their interaction in the ecosystem. We focus on how the synergy between partners improves efficiency, boosts product development and accelerates market access. The spiral of the innovation concept is introduced to illustrate the different stages ensuring the correct development of a medical technology. This iterative cycle drives the product maturation, according to medical needs and feedback, and ensures the correct implementation of the innovation in the clinical framework. We finally illustrate how the innovation process is applied to successful drive the ongoing SERENE-IoT project: the spiral of innovation concept is specifically adapted to fit with the project requirements with the final ibjective to identify a panel of medico-economic indicators and to establish the medical service delivered and the opportunities in order to capture the full benefit of the proposed technology.

Single bacteria identification by Raman spectroscopy.

We report on rapid identification of single bacteria using a low-cost, compact, Raman spectroscope. We demonstrate that a 60-s procedure is sufficient to acquire a comprehensive Raman spectrum in the range of 600 to 3300 cm⁻¹. This time includes localization of small bacteria aggregates, alignment on a single individual, and spontaneous Raman scattering signal collection. Fast localization of small bacteria aggregates, typically composed of less than a dozen individuals, is achieved by lensfree imaging over a large field of view of 24 mm². The lensfree image also allows precise alignment of a single bacteria with the probing beam without the need for a standard microscope. Raman scattered light from a 34-mW continuous laser at 532 nm was fed to a customized spectrometer (prototype Tornado Spectral Systems). Owing to the high light throughput of this spectrometer, integration times as low as 10 s were found acceptable. We have recorded a total of 1200 spectra over seven bacterial species. Using this database and an optimized preprocessing, classification rates of ~90% were obtained. The speed and sensitivity of our Raman spectrometer pave the way for high-throughput and nondestructive real-time bacteria identification assays. This compact and low-cost technology can benefit biomedical, clinical diagnostic, and environmental applications.