Modern crises, including pandemics, antimicrobial resistance, prolonged battlefield operations, and a shortage of healthcare personnel, expose a critical diagnostic gap. There is a lack of real-time, high-sensitivity, multiplex detection directly where it is needed. Most testing was never designed for the bedside or battlefield, and still takes place in centralised laboratories – slow, costly, and out of reach for roughly half the global population. Biosensor diagnostics change the equation. They deliver immediate, affordable and multiplex detection wherever decisions must be taken: in hospitals, clinics, mobile units, the field or the bedside.
Expertise that accelerates
TNO at Holst Centre develops the platforms that make next-generation biosensors possible. Building on deep expertise in integrated photonics, heterogeneous integration, sensor development, new manufacturing technologies, chip packaging and flexible electronics and wearables, we integrate the full sensing stack. We support versatile form factors: outside-the-body portable devices, on-the-body wearables and skin patches, and in the body (e.g., catheters).
Integrated photonics solutions
TNO and its partners are advancing Photonic Integrated Chip (PIC) biosensors as a powerful solution. PIC biosensors enable highly sensitive detection for early identification of pathogens, biomarkers or toxins. They also enable significant reductions in sensor size, weight and power consumption (SWaP), making them ideally suited for miniaturised, point-of-care and fieldable applications. We are active participants in the Photonic Integration Technology Center (PITC) and PhotonDelta ecosystem. We work with universities, photonics foundries and industrial partners across the entire PIC biosensor value chain – from design and fabrication to packaging and system integration.
TNO at Holst Centre:Fit-for-purpose sensors
Where the application calls for it, TNO at Holst Centre also supports the integration of other sensor modalities - electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric and thermal. Together with TNO teams and external partners, we are putting the full range of biosensor technologies to work across a growing range of applications, including:
Biological and chemical threat detection for defence and military forces
Point-of-care health sensors
Wearable sensors for (quasi-)continuous, at-home monitoring
Applications for biosensing in space
Holst Centre Participation in Recent Meetings/Webinars
Holst Centre Participation in National and European Projects
— Work with us
Collaborate on impact
Join one of our shared R&D programs or start a dedicated collaboration — together we secure positions in the value chains that will define the future.