University of Antwerp · Faculty of Design Sciences · Product Development

The
Measure
Lab

Enabling tech for deep tech.

Medical Device Design @ The Measure Lab

This lab doesn't do deep tech — no microbiology, no genomics, no single deep specialism. It does instrumentation: building the measurement and prototyping layer that could let someone else's deep-tech research become a dominant paradigm, years before the market — or the researcher — knows if it will. That bet is made deliberately, alongside a repeatable design methodology that carries it from clinical problem to validated prototype: new requirements for existing devices, redesigns, and entirely new products for hospitals, clinics and beyond.

This is the pattern learned at Southern Photonics: going deep on optical phase measurement years before the telecom industry needed it, and being instrumentation-ready when the market finally arrived. The Measure Lab exists to repeat that — enabling tech for deep tech, built in collaboration with the researchers actually doing the deep science.

See how we work → Read the talk (PDF) ↓ Official UA page ↗ UA staff profile Google Scholar
Lab leadProf. dr. Regan Watts
Lab space50 m² — Stadscampus, Antwerp
Primary focusMedical products, devices & diagnostics
Also active inMaritime & industrial measurement
Track record20+ years · 100+ publications
01 — Working method

Five steps, one room

Every device that comes through the lab moves through the same sequence — from a clinician's problem statement to data that goes back out into publications, patents and further trials.

01

Problem statement

  • Identify the clinical need the device must address
  • Generate initial ideas and potential solutions
  • Outline the design process
02

Component fabrication

  • Employ CAD, FEA & CFD to define geometry and behaviour
  • Manufacture parts with the appropriate technique
  • 3D-print for rapid functional proof-of-concept
03

Clean assembly

Components are brought together to form the complete device, with care taken to ensure proper fit and cleanliness at every joint.

04

Testing & validation

  • Device testing
  • Microscopic inspection
  • Data collection
  • Evaluation of performance
05

Results & outcomes

Findings go back out of the room: validated prototypes for further studies, and data that feeds publications and patent filings.

02 — Instruments, devices & approaches

Built, printed, tested

A working sample of devices and instruments developed or validated through the lab, organised by clinical area — tagged with the fabrication route used to get from CAD file to bench.

Nuclear medicine

Mouse phantoms

Small-animal imaging phantoms for calibrating preclinical scanning equipment.

FFF
Pharmacy · logistics

Personalisation masks

Face-scan-driven fit customisation, developed out of the FFP2/FFP3 respirator work.

3D scan-fit
Operating theatre

Reusable surgical gowns

Durable, launderable gown system built to withstand repeated sterilisation cycles.

Ultrasonic welding
Operating theatre

DIPS — durable inflatable prone support

Inflatable surgical positioning cushions, with Dr. Paul Depauw (Ergotrics).

Inflatable / textile
Ear · nose · throat

3D-tympanoscope

Low-cost 3D-printed otoscopy housing built around an imaging lens and LED ring.

FFF
Endocrinology · diabetes

Reusable CGM housing (Lumeco)

Reusable continuous-glucose-monitor components.

FFF
Clinical lab

Free-bilirubin sensor

Compact sensor housing aimed at neonatal jaundice monitoring.

FFF · Polyjet
Clinical lab

Blood–brain barrier chip

Microfluidic organ-on-chip housing for blood–brain barrier studies.

FFF · Polyjet
Clinical lab

Fluidic cell for organoids

Perfusion housing for organoid culture, assembled under cleanroom conditions.

Cleanroom assembly
Clinical lab · A-PECS

3D-printed microneedle sensor array

Potentiometric biosensing platform built on a 3D-printed solid microneedle base.

mSLA
Clinical lab · A-PECS

Wearable phenylalanine sensor

Wristband biosensor for phenylalanine monitoring in PKU patients.

FFF
Clinical lab · A-PECS

Microneedle sensor for immunosuppressants

The lab's flagship concept-to-trial case study.

mSLA
03 — Featured projects

From bench to (almost) trial

Three strands of ongoing work that show how the five-step method plays out over months, not days.

ProjectFunderDurationStatus
One4All — universal blood culture flask production in Sub-Saharan AfricaITM2025–Active
NeoVOC — sampling device for volatile compounds in ventilated neonatesIOF05/2026–04/2027Upcoming
SafeTrawl IIPRIVE03/2026–09/2027Upcoming
TEAMBIO — Technological Enablement for Advancements in Manufacturing through Bio-intelligenceBOF06/2025–05/2027Active
Nature4Nature — filtering nature's diversity for nature-friendly implementationsEU-KADER03/2023–02/2027Active
INFLUXO — fluidic module for high-throughput microscopy of intact organoidsIOF09/2024–08/2025Active
REmedi — for medical packagingVLAIO03/2024–03/2026Active
SafeTrawl IPRIVE03/2024–08/2025Active
Femtosecond pulsed laser micromachiningFWO05/2022–04/2026Active
reCURE — smart, reusable and qualitative healthcareVLAIO05/2022–04/2024Completed
PRINT-4-POCT — millifluidic devices for point-of-care testingBOF05/2020–04/2024Completed
PROJECT 01

Microneedle sensor for immunosuppressants

A wearable, minimally-invasive sensor to monitor immunosuppressant levels in transplant patients — built on a 3D-printed solid microneedle array. It is the project that most exposed the gap between a working bench prototype and a device that can legally touch a patient.

The photopolymer resin used for the printed microneedle array turned out not to be biocompatible — unsuitable for any human study. An IOF proof-of-concept application to bridge that gap was turned down, on the basis that a porcine model wasn't considered close enough to human physiology to justify the investment. Rather than stall, the platform was proven out on a living organism that needs neither ethical approval nor pre-clinical trials: a houseplant.

Parrilla, M., Steijlen, A., Kerremans, R., Jacobs, J., den Haan, L., De Vreese, J., Van Noten Géron, Y., Clerx, P., Watts, R. & De Wael, K. "Wearable platform based on 3D-printed solid microneedle potentiometric pH sensor for plant monitoring." Chemical Engineering Journal 500 (2024): 157254.
10.2 NAdhesion, porcine skin
IPX7Ingress rating tested
~90 µmMicroneedle tip
67Citations to date
PROJECT 02

Wearable biosensors with A-PECS

Alongside the microneedle work, the lab builds the wearable hardware for a run of potentiometric and electrochemical sensors developed with the A-PECS electrochemistry group (Prof. Karolien De Wael): a wristband phenylalanine sensor for PKU patients, and the solid-microneedle pH platform that underpins the immunosuppressant work above.

The lab's contribution sits at the mechanical end — 3D-printed enclosures, wearable form factors, and adhesion/penetration/ingress testing on porcine and human skin before anything is trusted against a person.

87Citations — phenylalanine sensor
122Citations — pH microneedle sensor
PROJECT 03

From concept to clinical trial

Every device in the lab eventually has to answer to the same regulated pathway. None of the current projects are past P1 yet — the point is to keep building use cases, evidence and trust so that the investment in a full clinical study is one worth making.

P1Requirements & risk analysis
P2Design & development
P3Verification & validation
P4Commercialisation
P5Post-market

Regulated under MDR 2017/745 (or IVDR 2017/746) and ISO 13485:2016.

04 — How we collaborate

Complementary collaboration

The specialty, named plainly: we don't compete with a clinical or scientific specialist's deep-tech — we build the measurement and prototyping layer underneath it, so their work can actually reach a market. Thirty-two masters theses and collaborations with more than a dozen senior professors across UAntwerpen/UZA's five 'Health' sub-domains are the evidence.

01

Joint master's thesis

A company, hospital department or research group brings a real problem; a Product Development student spends a year on it, co-supervised from both sides.

Partners: UZA, Helicus, A-PECS, Bosch, ABB, Voxdale, OxyPoint, INBO — 32 projects since 2019
02

Applied R&D & proof-of-concept

Funded projects that carry an idea from lab bench toward something a company or hospital can actually adopt — IOF, VLAIO, BOF and FWO all fund different stages of that path.

Current: NeoVOC, SafeTrawl I & II, TEAMBIO, INFLUXO, REmedi
03

Cross-institution & cross-discipline research

Work that only happens by pairing measurement and prototyping with expertise the lab doesn't have in-house — electrochemistry, biomedical imaging, ecology, robotics. More than a dozen senior professors across the five 'Health' sub-domains have brought instrumentation and co-development tracks here over the years.

With: Els Du Bois (REuse Lab) & Karolien De Wael (A-PECS) on Nature4Nature · Tom Breugelmans on electrochemistry · Winnok De Vos & Jan Sijbers on biomedical imaging · KU Leuven Surgical Robotics
04

Spin-off & start-up formation

When a proof-of-concept clears the bar, the lab's own track record is that it doesn't stop at the paper: co-founder of Southern Photonics (2002), whose daughter company Quantifi Photonics secured Series A, B and C venture funding and was acquired by NASDAQ-listed Teradyne for €125M in March 2025; and Medimundi NV (2020), which took FFP2/FFP3 respirator design from patent to production line during COVID-19.

Evidence of the appetite: patents as the output that matters, not just the paper — the Medimundi patents alone unlocked multi-million-dollar investment in production.
05 — Infrastructure

The room itself

50 m² on the Stadscampus, built for the full loop from CAD file to sterilised, tested device. Most problems that arrive from industry or a masters thesis get solved the same way: build a testopstelling — a purpose-built rig — that isolates the one design parameter in question, then measure until the answer is unambiguous. Plus access to the wider Antwerp Design Factory for anything the lab itself can't handle.

Footprint
50 m² dedicated lab space, Stadscampus, Antwerp
Assembly
Cleanroom assembly bench for sterile / semi-sterile device build
Inspection
Microscopy and validation station for component and surface inspection
Textiles
Ultrasonic welders for medical textiles (reusable gowns, drapes, kits)
Sterilisation
Autoclave and glassware dishwasher for sterilisation and hygiene testing, including ClO₂ validation
Mechanical testing
Tensile testing machine, run to standards such as ISO 1924-2 for material and seam strength
Fabrication
Vacuum forming Laser cutting CNC milling Casting mSLA SLA FFF SLS
Beyond the lab
Pre-incubation, prototyping and event space through the Antwerp Design Factory, shared with the Augmented Crafting, Human, REuse, Service Design and Systemic Design labs
06 — Education & collaboration

Teaching the method

1BA

Product and Engineering

First-year bachelor teaching in product and engineering fundamentals.

1MA

Technology-Driven Design Fundamentals

Lab-based physical measurement and prototyping teaching, first-year master.

1MA

Technology-Driven Design — Module 1

Continued hands-on measurement and prototyping module, first-year master.

2MA

Masterproef

Supervised master's thesis projects with hospitals, SMEs and industry.

ADF

Antwerp Design Factory

Regan Watts sits on the core Antwerp Design Factory team, which runs the master-thesis-to-market pipeline connecting student projects to companies over a two-year partnership: thesis year, then a valorisation year building toward a business case and pre-incubation.

07 — Other sectors

Measurement beyond medical

2023

Smart docking LiDAR

A LiDAR-based sensor for the Port of Antwerp that measures a ship's approach to its mooring bollard in real time.

2022

Lashing tool

An ergonomic container-lashing tool designed around the anatomy of the dockworkers who use it, every shift.

2021

Tugboat bridge redesign

Ergonomic redesign of a tugboat wheelhouse — seating, joystick controls and console layout for the crew who work it.

2020

Zero pellets loss

Measurement-driven prevention of plastic-pellet spillage across a port logistics chain, from bulk loading to distribution.

2024–2027

SafeTrawl I & II

Physical measurement work supporting the safety of trawl-net fishing gear, funded across two consecutive phases by PRIVE.

08 — Publications

Selected output

A career that started in optical measurement and now runs through wearable biosensors and medical device design — 20+ years, 100+ publications, and over €2M in research funding secured from FP7, H2020, ESA, FWO, imec and BOF. Full list on Google Scholar, where the citation record actually lives.

100+Publications
1,415Total citations
19h-index
€2M+Research funding secured
3D-printed microneedle-based potentiometric sensor for pH monitoring in skin interstitial fluid
Parrilla, M., Vanhooydonck, A., Johns, M., Watts, R. & De Wael, K.
Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2023
122citations
Wearable wristband-based electrochemical sensor for phenylalanine detection
Parrilla, M., Vanhooydonck, A., De Wael, K. et al.
Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2022
87citations
Wearable platform based on 3D-printed solid microneedle potentiometric pH sensor for plant monitoring
Parrilla, M., Steijlen, A., Kerremans, R., Jacobs, J., den Haan, L., Watts, R. et al.
Chemical Engineering Journal, 2024
67citations
Consumers' perceptions toward products preventing microfiber pollution in aquatic environments
Herweyers, L., Catarci Carteny, C., Scheelen, L., Du Bois, E. et al.
Sustainability, 2020
45citations
High performance mode locking characteristics of single section quantum dash lasers
Rosales, R., Murdoch, S. G., Merghem, K., Martinez, A., Lelarge, F. et al.
Optics Express, 2012
188citations