Early detection is crucial for improving treatment outcomes and alleviating the burden of chronic diseases, as emphasized by the EU Mission: Cancer. Current in vivo diagnostic methods, despite their promise, remain slow, costly, and invasive. Enter the BeNiFIt project with a bold vision: the 1000X dream. This revolutionary initiative aims to slash diagnostic turnaround times from 10,000 minutes to just a few tens of minutes—a 1000X improvement.

BeNiFIt will leverage intra-body nanonetworks (IBNs) to achieve that dream. IBNs offer advanced early detection and real-time monitoring that are minimally invasive, cost-effective, and incredibly fast. Nanomachines equipped with biosensors will precisely detect biomarkers within the body, thanks to a cooperative sensing approach that enhances sensitivity and specificity, minimizing false positives and negatives.

The project also focuses on developing a cutting-edge integrated sensing and communication hardware system to exchange information with the outside world. Utilizing a near-field magnetism-based system and passive communication architecture, this design ensures ultra-high safety and energy efficiency. An open-source system-level simulator, spanning from microscopic to macroscopic scales, will analyze the impact of design choices on overall system performance.

With KPIs targeting over 95% detection accuracy, a tenfold reduction in treatment costs, and a thousandfold decrease in turnaround times, the BeNiFIt project’s 1000X dream is set to revolutionize the healthcare industry.