We describe the design, implementation, and nine-month operational experience of the software management stack for Lagrange, an IQM Spark five-qubit superconducting quantum computer jointly acquired by LINKS Foundation, Politecnico di Torino and the Italian National Institute of Metrological Research (INRiM), and managed by LINKS. Lagrange is, to our knowledge, the first quantum computer in Italy that is fully operational and accessible to students and researchers from multiple institutions under formal service agreements, and to the general public under commercial agreements. When installed in mid-2025, the IQM Spark hardware was delivered by the vendor with authentication only: no billing, project management or fair usage enforcement were provided. We developed a modular middleware layer that filled that gap without modifying any vendor client software, by intercepting API calls through a proxy that enforces project-based budgets, reservation-aware authorisation, and per-user fairness policies. The middleware adopts a plugin architecture that cleanly separates vendor-specific logic from site-specific policies, enabling reuse across different quantum hardware backends and deployment contexts. Since entering production in September 2025, the system has processed over 240,000 quantum jobs totalling more than 1 week of QPU execution time, with greater than 98

Organic electronics is recognized as a valid candidate for the emulation of brain-like functionalities, especially when the application demands to limit the power consumption. Among other technologies, memristors gained an increasing attention due to their non-volatile properties and their use as synaptic elements in artificial neural networks. Several memristive devices have been proposed, exploring different materials, working principles and deposition methods. Very recently printing memristors have been proposed for limiting the material waste, the production cost and the need of masking samples during the fabrication. Herein, a low-energy inkjet-printed organic based memristive device realized with a pure polyaniline channel is demonstrated. This type of device perfectly emulates synaptic and neuronal functions and works in low-voltage electroforming-free operational regime (<1 V). These abilities arise from the possibility of fine-tuning the reaction rate of the polyaniline layers by acting on the internal voltage distribution of the system. These electronic elements can efficiently serve as synaptic elements in 784x512x10 network simulation, enabling classifying handwritten digits with the accuracy of more than 95% (in presence of cycle-to-cycle and device-to-device variation). This suggests that these devices are excellent candidates for the implementation of neuromorphic systems, paving the way for the realization of printed neuromorphic electronics.

We design, fabricate, and characterize novel electrically triggered mu -chamber arrays, demonstrating their suitability for precise, localized cargo release. Using biocompatible materials, scalable hot-embossing, and gold nanoparticle functionalization, our devices operate at low actuation voltages, ideal for safe biomedical applications, including implantable drug delivery. Real-time fluorescence imaging with Nile Red staining visualizes sealing film dynamics during opening, confirming electrical stimulation and localized Joule heating. We analyze the polymeric film's structural evolution, revealing a "curtain-like" opening mechanism driven by film softening and increased vapor pressure, leading to dewetting at bio-compatible temperatures. Experimental observations are confirmed through continuum-scale modeling of the opening process, using a square root retraction law that predicts a dynamic response on the order of a few seconds. Devices use polyimide (Kapton) substrates patterned with 30 mu m-deep square mu -chambers (50 x 50 mu m2), equipped with titanium pads and gold nanoparticles to reduce actuation voltage to 1 V. Sealing uses a thermolabile polycaprolactone (PCL) film, enabling on-demand cargo release. We assess sealing efficiency, loading capacity, and release performance via SEM, fluorescence microscopy, and UV-vis spectrophotometry using fluorescent model drugs. While designed for implantable drug delivery, the system's adaptable design and scalable fabrication support broader applications, including regenerative medicine, smart prosthetics, environmental monitoring, and peptide electronics.

Droplet-based microfluidics (DBM) affords reproducible control over the breakup of immiscible streams, enabling the on-demand fabrication of well-defined carriers for biomedical use. We first outline droplet-generation techniques, distinguishing passive architectures—in which capillary, viscous, and inertial forces set size and frequency—from active methods that superimpose external fields to refine monodispersity, throughput, and size control. Building on this physical framework, we survey the micro- and nanostructures accessible with DBM—including polymeric nanoparticles and nanogels/microgels, microspheres, core–shell microcapsules, and microfibers—and show how morphology (porosity, shell thickness, network architecture) and spatial composition govern transport, stability, and release. We then examine the biomaterials that endow droplets with function, with emphasis on natural, semi-synthetic, and synthetic hydrogels and on gelation/polymerization routes (ionic, thermal, photo-induced, enzymatic) that are compatible with biological cargo and permit real-time structural control. The applications analysis is intentionally biomaterial-centric. For drug delivery, we relate material choice and crosslinking chemistry to representative release profiles and kinetic models, and we integrate quantitative biocompatibility readouts where available (e.g., LD50, inflammatory signaling) together with in vivo biodistribution and loading efficiency that link carrier design to payload fate. For cell-centric uses, we discuss single-cell encapsulation and droplet-based 3D cultures, highlighting biomaterial-driven morphogenesis, viability, and function, and we outline DBM-enabled bioanalytical platforms (single-molecule detection, single-cell sequencing). By articulating the pathway from droplet-generation techniques, through the resulting micro-/nanostructures and the selected biomaterials, to their biomedical performance, this review provides a coherent design perspective for engineering DBM-fabricated carriers and scaffolds in drug delivery, tissue modeling, and high-throughput bioanalysis.

Droplet-based microfluidics (DBM) has emerged as a powerful tool for a wide range of biochemical applications, from single-cell analysis and drug screening to diagnostics and tissue engineering. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in droplet generation and trapping techniques, highlighting both passive and active approaches. Passive methods—such as co-flow, cross-flow, and flow-focusing geometries—rely on hydrodynamic instabilities and capillary effects, offering simplicity and integration with compact devices, though often at the cost of tunability. In contrast, active methods exploit external fields—electric, magnetic, thermal, or mechanical—to enable on-demand droplet control, allowing for higher precision and throughput. Furthermore, we explore innovative trapping mechanisms such as hydrodynamic resistance networks, microfabricated U-shaped wells, and anchor-based systems that enable precise spatial immobilization of droplets. In the final section, we also examine active droplet sorting strategies, including electric, magnetic, acoustic, and thermal methods, as essential tools for downstream analysis and high-throughput workflows. These manipulation strategies facilitate in situ chemical and biological analyses, enhance experimental reproducibility, and are increasingly adaptable to industrial-scale applications. Emphasis is placed on the design flexibility, scalability, and biological compatibility of each method, offering critical insights for selecting appropriate techniques based on experimental needs and operational constraints.

Paper-based biosensors hold significant promise for point-of-care (POC) diagnostic applications. Among these, lateral flow assays (LFAs) are particularly appealing due to their ease of use, portability, and low cost. However, their limited sensitivity and qualitative output set drawbacks on their reliability and widespread application. In response to the growing need for rapid and consistent diagnostic and monitoring tools, Organic Electrochemical Transistors (OECTs) have emerged as powerful devices in biochemical sensing applications because of their high sensitivity, low operating voltage, and compatibility with a biological environment. In this work, we developed a printable OECT for biochemical sensing on a commercial cellulose membrane, commonly used as a detection substrate in LFA-based rapid tests. Constituting a self-standing, passive microfluidic platform, the system was designed to transport and interact with liquid samples, while ensuring a contamination-free zone for the active components. Inside a dry area delimited by a hydrophobic barrier, the OECT components include dispense-printed silver electrodes, a polystyrenesulfonate-doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene) (PEDOT:PSS) channel and gate, and a solid-state electrolyte (SSE) layer. Outside the dry area, a PEDOT:PSS extended gate alone interacts with the analyte in the liquid sample, preventing channel contamination and enhancing the system stability. We investigated the effect of dopamine (DA) oxidation at the extended gate interface on the device response and observed variations in the transfer characteristics, transconductance and Ion/Ioff ratio, obtaining a limit of detection of 0.01 mM. With a maximum transconductance of approximately 4 mS, our system shows potential for the integration of an easy-to-fabricate device into an affordable biochemical assay, providing quantitative results at the point-of-care site to complement and reinforce the typical colorimetric response of LFAs.

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are organic-based devices that are gaining growing interest from the scientific community thanks to the possibility of exploiting their electron/ion transduction properties in multiple applications. Typically designed starting from commercial PEDOT:PSS dispersions and multistep photolithographic methods, few examples of OECTs realized with different methodologies and protocols and diverse conductive polymers have been reported so far. Here, we report a facile, reliable, and mask-less electrochemical approach for realizing hybrid polypyrrole-polydopamine (PPy_PDA)-based OECTs. The proposed strategy ensures the control of the conductive channel's properties while maintaining low-cost and low-waste channel fabrication. The presented method allows the manufacturing of a well-performing OECT with a low voltage range (<1 V), remarkable transconductance (g( m) = 0.26 mS), and excellent stability to pulse stimulation. The OECT functioning properties are paired and put in perspective with classical electrical (i.e., 2-point probe method) characterizations, along with cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques, and structural analysis (i.e., Raman spectroscopy). The collected results convincingly demonstrate that the proposed approach would represent a simple yet effective route for exploiting PPy in OECT applications.

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) as artificial receptors have received considerable scientific attention in the past few decades, as material for biomimetic molecular recognition. This paper explores the fabrication of MIPs by Additive Manufacturing (AM), which appears mostly as an unexplored field. Specifically Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology was employed to fabricate 3D-printed MIPs, imprinted with Oxytetracycline (OTC), a widespread antibiotic, whose presence in food and water must be controlled. The optimized MIP formulation also includes Methacrylic Acid as the functional monomer, Dipropylene Glycol Diacrylate as the crosslinker, and Dimethyl Sulfoxide as the solvent. The study demonstrates the recognition properties of the printed MIPs, showing enhanced binding performance with higher concentrations of the target molecule. The results underscore the potential of 3D-printed MIPs for a multitude of applications, including biomedical and environmental monitoring.

The recent demonstration of optically active telecom emitters makes silicon a compelling candidate for solid state quantum photonic platforms. Particularly fabrication of the G center has been demonstrated in carbon-rich silicon upon conventional thermal annealing. However, the high-yield controlled fabrication of these emitters at the wafer-scale still requires the identification of a suitable thermodynamic pathway enabling its activation following ion implantation. Here we demonstrate the efficient activation of G centers in high-purity silicon substrates upon ns pulsed laser annealing. The proposed method enables the non-invasive, localized activation of G centers by the supply of short non-stationary pulses, thus overcoming the limitations of conventional rapid thermal annealing related to the structural metastability of the emitters. A finite-element analysis highlights the strong non-stationarity of the technique, offering radically different defect-engineering capabilities with respect to conventional longer thermal treatments, paving the way to the direct and controlled fabrication of emitters embedded in integrated photonic circuits and waveguides.

MEMS devices are more and more commonly used as sensors, actuators, and microfluidic devices in different fields like electronics, opto-electronics, and biomedical engineering. Traditional fabrication technologies cannot meet the growing demand for device miniaturisation and fabrication time reduction, especially when customised devices are required. That is why additive manufacturing technologies are increasingly applied to MEMS. In this review, attention is focused on the Italian scenario in regard to 3D-printed MEMS, studying the techniques and materials used for their fabrication. To this aim, research has been conducted as follows: first, the commonly applied 3D-printing technologies for MEMS manufacturing have been illustrated, then some examples of 3D-printed MEMS have been reported. After that, the typical materials for these technologies have been presented, and finally, some examples of their application in MEMS fabrication have been described. In conclusion, the application of 3D-printing techniques, instead of traditional processes, is a growing trend in Italy, where some exciting and promising results have already been obtained, due to these new selected technologies and the new materials involved.

The methodologies for producing composite materials based on conducting polymers (CPs) and 3D-printed polymeric materials are promising to combine the complex geometries of 3D objects with the charge transport properties of CPs. Among the latter, polyaniline (PANI) has an edge because of its peculiar electrochemical behavior. Synthesis protocols starting from the aniline (ANI) monomer to produce the PANI phase are consolidated; however, a series of controversies are related to the use of this reactant, including a potential toxicity. To obtain safer synthetic procedures for fabricating electrical and electrochemically active 3D composite materials, this research exploits an alternative precursor, namely, the aniline dimer (DANI), for the in situ synthesis of polydianiline (PDANI) via oxidative polymerization within 3D-printed polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) objects. Factors such as the molecular weight and swelling degree of PEGDA matrix, as well as the nature of PDANI's doping agents, are found to be crucial to modulate the type of redox mechanism, the charge transport properties, and the impedimetric response of 3D-printed PEGDA-PDANI composites. The possibility to produce PEGDA objects in complex 3D shapes (discs, dumbbell, and trabecular structures), coupled with the charge transport and electroactive performances of the PDANI filler, are promising for exploiting PEGDA-PDANI systems as active interfaces in a wide range of electronic applications.

The primary objective of bioanalytical chemistry is the detection of biomarkers at ultra-low concentrations, particularly when these biomarkers are associated with pathological conditions. The ability to detect these biomarkers enables the rapid and accurate diagnosis of diseases. However, detecting substances at the molecular level remains a substantial limitation in Point of Care diagnostics, as recently exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, there is a clear imperative to develop cost-effective digital technologies capable of precisely monitoring specific analytes, thereby quantifying the transition of an organism from a healthy to a diseased state in a lucid and expeditious manner. In this context, organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have emerged as promising platforms for biosensing applications, offering unique advantages such as low-cost fabrication, compatibility with flexible substrates, and biocompatibility. This contribution explores the significance of OECTs in biosensing, particularly focusing on their utilization with biological fluids like seminal fluid which is, according to our knowledge, not reported in the literature so far. The use of seminal fluid in biosensing holds significant clinical relevance, especially in the assessment of male reproductive health and fertility. OECT-based biosensors offer sensitive detection capabilities, enabling the quantification of specific biomarkers present in seminal fluid. By leveraging the electrochemical properties of seminal fluid constituents, OECTs can provide rapid, label-free, and real-time monitoring, facilitating timely diagnostics and personalized treatment strategies.

As the world moves towards integrating new functionalities into everyday objects, the demand for diverse substrates grows, making additive manufacturing an invaluable tool. Organic electronic materials have played a major role in this transition thanks to their excellent electronic and mechanical properties, adaptability and solution processability.The aim of this study is to compare spin coating, inkjet printing (IJP), and aerosol jet printing (AJP) for applying poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) as the channel material in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). This work investigates the often-overlooked impact of deposition techniques on the electrical performance of OECTs. Spin coating has been analysed as a reference technique, while AJP and IJP are addressed as promising pathways towards fully printed OECTs.The normalized transconductance and Ion/Ioff ratio have been analysed as figures of merit for this study. AJP devices have shown the best performance, displaying a normalized transconductance of 885 S∙nm and an Ion/Ioff ratio around 103. The spin coated OECTs showed a slightly lower normalized transconductance (740 S∙nm) and much lower Ion/Ioff ratio in the order of 101. Last, IJP exhibited a transconductance of 433 S∙nm and a Ion/Ioff ratio in the order of 102.This work could be beneficial for a wide range of applications, adding an additional degree of freedom to the tunability of the OECT channel properties. It also opens the discussion for more comprehensive studies on the films from a materials perspective.

Several diseases affect the alveoli, and the efficacy of medical treatments and pharmaceutical therapies is hampered by the lack of pre-clinical models able to recreate in vitro the diseases. Microfluidic devices, mimicking the key structural and compositional features of the alveoli, offer several advantages to medium and high-throughput analysis of new candidate therapies. Here, we developed an alveolus-on-a-chip recapitulating the microanatomy of the physiological tissue by including the epithelium, the fibrous interstitial layer and the capillary endothelium. A PDMS device was obtained assembling a top layer and a bottom layer obtained by replica molding. A polycaprolactone/gelatin (PCL-Gel) electrospun membrane was included within the two layers supporting the seeding of 3 cell phenotypes. Epithelial cells were grown on a fibroblast-laden collagen hydrogel located on the top side of the PCL-Gel mats while endothelial cells were seeded on the basolateral side of the membrane. The innovative design of the microfluidic device allows to replicate both cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions according to the in vivo cell arrangement along with the establishment of physiologically relevant air-liquid interface conditions. Indeed, high cell viability was confirmed for up to 10 days and the formation of a tight endothelial and epithelial barrier was assessed by immunofluorescence assays.

This paper investigates the performance of 3D-printed dielectric reflectarray antennas (RAs) with wideband behavior and beam-steering capabilities. The designed unit cell consists of a single-layer dielectric element perforated with a square hole, whose side is used to control the local variation of the reflection coefficient. The numerical analysis of the unit cell and of first $52\times52$ reflectarray working in Ka-band, whose scanning capabilities are tested just moving the feed along an arc, confirms that the unit cell has a stable behavior with respect to both the frequency and the direction of arrival of the incident field. In view of these promising capabilities, the proposed unit cell is used to design a bifocal reflectarray with the same size and working in the same frequency band of the first one. Its numerical characterization and the measurements of a prototype prove that the RA is able to provide less than 0.8 dB of gain losses over a scanning range of ±40 ∘ in the vertical plane, while the bandwidth varies between 13.5% and 28%, depending on the pointing direction. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and highlight the potential of 3D-printing technology for producing high performance, cost-effective RAs with wideband behavior and excellent beam-steering features.

In this article, a dielectric-only reflectarray (RA) with a wideband behavior is proposed as an alternative to conventional metallo-dielectric configurations. The introduced unit-cell (UC) consists of a single dielectric layer perforated with a square hole located at the center, whose size is used to control the phase of the reflection coefficient. For such a dielectric element, an accurate equivalent circuit model for predicting the reflection coefficient is derived by combining two different concepts: the effective medium theory used to characterize the effective permittivity and the Floquet modal expansion to describe the wave propagation in terms of Floquet modes. The UC geometrical parameters are then optimized to maximize the RA performance, taking also into account the limitations introduced by the additive manufacturing (AM) process adopted for the realization of a prototype. Its experimental characterization confirms the effectiveness of the UC, of the design and manufacturing procedures: in fact, the measurements, in very good agreement with the results of the simulations, prove the significantly low sidelobe levels, the good aperture efficiency, and the excellent 1-dB bandwidth (BW), larger than 24%.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) mainly develops in the head of the pancreas, within the acino-ductal unit composed of acinar and ductal cells surrounded by pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs). PSCs strongly influence the tumor microenvironment by triggering an intense stromal deposition, which plays a key role in tumor progression and limits drug perfusion. We have developed a microfluidic in vitro model recreating the in vivo tumor-stroma crosstalk to replicate the steps of PDAC evolution towards the establishment of an efficient in vitro platform for innovative therapy validation. The multilayer PDAC-on-chip was designed to culture the PDAC cells and the PSCs embedded in a type I collagen gel in the top and bottom layers, respectively. The presence of a biomimetic nanofibrous membrane in the middle of the chip permits the control of interactions between the two cell lines and the easy analysis of the effects of the crosstalk on cell behavior. First, the PDAC-stromal cell relationship was evaluated under co-culture conditions on 24-well inserts including the PCL/Gel electrospun membrane. This simplified model shows that human fibroblasts change their morphology and secrete larger amounts of IL-6 cytokines in the presence of tumor cells, confirming the activation of stromal cells under co-culture. Then, the PDAC-on-chip system was validated by demonstrating that human fibroblasts seeded in a 3D collagen matrix in the bottom microchannel also change to a myofibroblast-like shape with increased expression of α-SMA and secrete larger amounts of IL-6 cytokines. This microfluidic system is suitable for the evaluation of drug efficacy and serves as a powerful tool for understanding the early evolution steps of PDAC.

Mechanical forces can influence the structure and development of healthy and cancerous cells and tissue microenvironments, acting on their physical shape and promoting non-genetic alterations during growth. For this reason, it is interesting to investigate the role of dynamic hydrostatic compression on such cultures, to assess the role of such stimuli on key parameters, such as cell differentiation, cell stiffness and cytoskeleton rearrangements. In this work, we present a versatile Arduino-based pneumatic system for the stimulation of a cell culture performed in a standard multi-well plate, designed to work inside a CO2 incubator. The system is capable of modifying the hydrostatic pressure inside a dedicated culture chamber following the desired pattern, and, thus, providing a mechanical hydrostatic stimulus to a cell culture growing inside it. In the present work, a human respiration-like compression pattern was used, to mimic the mechanical stress conditions inside the human lung alveoli, and make the platform compatible with the development of lung tissues and organoids.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had severe consequences from the social and economic perspectives, compelling the scientific community to focus on the development of effective diagnostics that can combine a fast response and accurate sensitivity/specificity performance. Presently available commercial antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) are very fast, but still face significant criticisms, mainly related to their inability to amplify the protein signal. This translates to a limited sensitive outcome and, hence, a reduced ability to hamper the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection. To answer the urgent need for novel platforms for the early, specific and highly sensitive detection of the virus, this paper deals with the use of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) as very efficient ion–electron converters and amplifiers for the detection of spike proteins and their femtomolar concentration. The electrical response of the investigated OECTs was carefully analyzed, and the changes in the parameters associated with the transconductance (i.e., the slope of the transfer curves) in the gate voltage range between 0 and 0.3 V were found to be more clearly correlated with the spike protein concentration. Moreover, the functionalization of OECT-based biosensors with anti-spike and anti-nucleocapside proteins, the major proteins involved in the disease, demonstrated the specificity of these devices, whose potentialities should also be considered in light of the recent upsurge of the so-called “long COVID” syndrome.