Symposium on the design and application of biosensors in animals: a recap of a successful day

The first speaker to take the stage was Arjan Palstra, researcher at Animal Breeding and Genomics (ABG). Palstra discussed heart rate and acceleration dynamics during swim-fitness and stress challenge tests comparing three marine fish species: Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and Yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi). The energy economy of fishes, compromising the whole range of active metabolism, can be established by subjecting fish to swim-fitness tests and stress challenge tests, encompassing the more steady and unsteady movements, respectively. Palstra and his colleagues wanted to gain more insight into the energy economy of the three fish species by investigating heart rate and acceleration, as determined by the application of data loggers at increasing swimming speeds during a swim-fitness test, and during an induced stress challenge test, which entailed the repeated lowering of water levels.

The second speaker was Eirik Svendsen from SINTEF Ocean who gave a presentation on improving utilisation of data from implantable sensors for fishes. Studying fish behaviour, physiology, health and welfare in aquaculture settings, as well as the farming environment, presents challenges, for example because of environmental variability (water temperature, salinity and oxygen levels) and limitations of non-invasive measurement techniques. Sensor data can enhance our understanding of fish behaviour and physiology and be a valuable source of information for improving aquaculture management practices. Svendsen talked about the implants they are developing at SINTEF to measure physiology and behavioural data. In addition, he gave several examples of how the implants and the data can be used, for example for cluster analysis or to document the effects of fish farming equipment.

The third speaker was Maarten Smulders, associate professor at Organic Chemistry (ORC). Smulders gave a presentation about polymer brushes and antifouling sensor surfaces. Although biosensors have many possible applications, they are limited by sensor chip surface fouling. The term fouling indicates any kind of deposit (for example proteins or microorganisms) accumulating on a surface. Surface fouling can interfere with or even block the working of the sensor. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the development of antifouling sensor surfaces. Smulders explained how polymer brushes work and described the science of ‘romantic surface connections’, which are long-chain polymer molecules that only connect to specific substances. These connections are particularly important for biomedical applications.

Next up was Lantian Chang, assistant professor at the Integrated Optical Systems (IOS) group at the University of Twente. Chang explained how optical sensing works and gave a sneak peek into the design and fabrication of sensor chips at the MESA+ NanoLab in Enschede.

The final speaker was Bram Kok, EngD (Engineering Doctorate) candidate at Animal Breeding and Genomics (ABG), who discussed his work on developing an implantable biosensor for real-time in vivo measurements in aquatic organisms. Kok is the first researcher to successfully complete the EngD programme at Wageningen University & Research. The project is part of the NLAS Innovation Programme. The programme was launched four years ago, and sensor technology is one of its domains.

The symposium ‘Design and application of biosensors in animals’ was organised by ABG and preceded Bram Kok’s EngD defence which took place at Omnia later that day.