Soft neurotechnology

Biological and mechanical components do not mix well and each one will inevitably damage the other. Stéphanie Lacour’s research (Professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland) is addressing this problem with success. The result is the creation of soft neurotechnology and flexible components that are compatible with living tissues.

About speaker:
Prof. Stephanie Lacour holds the Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Neuroprosthetic Technology at the School of Engineering at the EPFL. She received her PhD in Electrical Engineering from INSA de Lyon, France, and completed postdoctoral research at Princeton University (USA) and the University of Cambridge (UK).

She is the recipient of the 2006 MIT TR35, a University Research Fellowship from the Royal Society (UK), a European Research Council ERC Starting Grant, the 2011 Zonta award and the 2014 World Economic Forum Young Scientist award.

Her research is devoted to advancing our fundamental concepts in man-made electronic interfaces applied to biological systems. Specifically, her focus is on designing and manufacturing materials and electronic devices with mechanical properties close to that of the host biological tissues, so that long-term reliability and minimal perturbation are induced in vivo and/or truly wearable systems become possible. Her team implements soft bioelectronic interfaces for implantable neuroprostheses and prosthetic tactile skin.