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The Notre Dame Sensor Initiative (NDSI) unites researchers from across the University of Notre Dame to create precise, rapid, and low-cost tests for emerging threats.

Explore publications from the Notre Dame Sensor Initiative

White pills spill from open orange prescription bottles. Text overlay reads "Fighting To Combat The Opioid Crisis."
Notre Dame researchers create technologies to give caregivers, emergency responders, and health departments the critical information they need to address new substances infiltrating illicit drug supplies.

Collaborators at Notre Dame Serving Community Analytical Needs (ND-SCAN) will develop sensor technologies that healthcare providers, law enforcement, and harm reduction groups can use in the field to quickly and accurately identify high-potency synthetic opioids, cannabinoids, and other psychoactive substances in complex mixtures. These technologies will give caregivers, emergency responders, and health departments across Indiana and neighboring states critical information they need to address new substances infiltrating local illicit drug supplies.

Learn more about how Notre Dame is fighting to combat the opioid crisis in an edition of the “What Would You Fight For?” video series.

NDSI will also focus on developing dual-use sensor technologies for resilience to emerging chemical and bio threats. These technologies can simultaneously be applied to problems in the personalized healthcare space and national security. The illustration below shows this process.

Diagram showing a person in a hazmat suit using AI-assisted threat detection. A wireless sensor (1) detects threats and relays them to an AI assistant (2) on a smartwatch. The AI assistant analyzes the threat and displays it on a heads-up display (3) in the user's gas mask, showing the location of biological, chemical, and radiological hazards.
Dual-sensor technologies can provide resilience to chemical and bio threats through a multi-stage process, illustrated above. First, the wireless sensor detects a threat and relays it to an AI assistant, which identifies and analyzes the threat. Then, a heads-up display appears to provide users with a thorough threat assessment.