Neural Interfaces

At the Neural Interfaces Laboratory of IMDEA Nanociencia, we fabricate and characterize nanostructured devices to be used as neural interfaces of enhanced performance. We follow two parallel approaches:

1. Electrical electrodes covered by vertical metallic nanowires:

We fabricate improved electrodes to be used for neural electrical stimulation. By giving nanostructure to the electrodes, we aim to achieve reduced impedance and enhanced biocompatibility.

- Using template-assisted electrochemical deposition, we explore different materials to prepare conductive electrodes covered by vertical nanowires.
- Using IMDEA-Nanociencia clean room facilities, we pattern electrode heads to prepare ready-to-use electrodes whose biocompatibility and performance can then be tested by our collaborators.

2. Sensors of neural activity based on magnetoresistive materials:

We aim to demonstrate that anisotropic magnetoresistive materials can be used to sense neural activity at body temperature.

- Starting from LSMO thin films grown over vicinal substrates and lithographed into Wheatstone-bridges by our colleagues at CNRS-GREYC, we characterize their detectivity at temperatures in the range of the body temperature.
- We develop a differential architecture to test the sensing ability of our devices in vitro and in vivo.