A new spin-off company under the name “Biomimetic” was created leveraging patented technology developed at the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL, www.iesl.forth.gr) of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (www.forth.gr). The company was founded by the Research Director Dr. Emmanuel Stratakis, together with FORTH research personnel Dr. Evangelos Skoulas, Mr. Andreas Lemonis, Mr. Antonis Papadopoulos and Mr. Alexandros Mimidis, as co-founders. The company raised 900.000€ seed funding by Big Pi Ventures (https://bigpi.vc/), one of the funds of EquiFund supported by the European Investment Fund (EIF). It is the second spin-off company of IESL that is financed by Big Pi within the last six months.

Biosensors lab of FORTH(http://biosensorslab.biology.uoc.gr/) has developed a novel molecular diagnostic method for the detection of nucleic acids at the point-of-care. The method exploits a newly designed portable 3D-printed device and a smartphone to perform isothermal amplification and real-time quantitative colorimetric detection of the target analyte. The simplicity of the methodology, rapid analysis time (<30 min) and affordable cost make it ideal for non-trained users at the point-of-need and in both the developed and resource limited countries. Clinical validation of the device with patients’ samples, for infectious diseases (COVID-19) and cancer-mutations (BRAF V600E) detection, demonstrated excellent performance compared to standard methods.

Dr Georgios Z. Papadakis, collaborating researcher of the Institute of Computer Science (ICS) of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), had a major contribution on a study published on September 10th 2020, in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), in collaboration with scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

The Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH) provides infrastructure for information and telecommunication services to support the research and administrative activities of the Foundation. Providing this infrastructure imposes the responsible, ethical and legal use thereof by the Foundation community members.

Dr. Angelina Kouroubali, collaborating researcher of the Institute of Computer Science (ICS) of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), has been elected as a Fellow in the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics. The International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI, https://imia-medinfo.org/wp/iahsi).)

On 2 September 2020, an executive delegation from the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) toured the premises of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) in Heraklion, Crete to advance research collaboration in cybersecurity.

The findings of the study, published yesterday in the premier international scientific journal Nature Communications, reveal a novel molecular mechanism underlying the detrimental effects of uncontrolled mitophagy on neuronal survival that contributes to the development and progression of Autosomal Dominant Optic Atrophy (ADOA).

The European project NANOPOLY (FETOPEN 2019 – 2022) that runs in the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL) of the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH) has been awarded a “Key innovator” distinction by the European “Innovation Radar” https://www.innoradar.eu/resultbykeyword/nanopoly)