Stéphanie Lacour
EPFL STI INX-STI LSBI
B3 2 225.134 (Campus Biotech bâtiment B3)
Ch. des Mines 9
1202 Genève
+41 21 693 11 81
Office:
B3 2 229.134
EPFL
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LSBI
Web site: Web site: https://lsbi.epfl.ch
+41 21 693 11 81
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+41 21 693 11 81
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Web site: Web site: https://sv.epfl.ch/education
Mission
Bioelectronics integrates principles of electrical engineering to biology, medicine and ultimately health. My lab challenges and seeks to advance our fundamental concepts in man-made electronic systems applied to biology. Specifically, the focus is on designing and manufacturing electronic devices with mechanical properties close to those of the host biological tissue so that long-term reliability and minimal perturbation are induced in vivo and/or truly wearable systems become possible.We use fabrication methods borrowed from the MEMS and microelectronics industries and adapt them to soft substrates like elastomers. We develop novel characterization tools adapted to mechanically compliant bioelectronic circuits. We evaluate in vitro, in animal models and ultimately on humans our soft bioelectronic interfaces
Biography
Stéphanie P. Lacour is full professor at the School of Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. 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 joined EPFL in 2011. She was the founding director of EPFL Neuro X institute – a new interschool department focused on interdisciplinary and translational neuro-research located at EPFL-associated campus – Campus Biotech in Geneva. Since 2025, she is EPFL Vice-President for support to Strategic Initiatives.Post-docs
Alix TrouilletHaotian Chen
Florian Fallegger
Sukho Song
Kyungjin Kim
PhD students
Noaf AlwahabOutman Akouassi (co-advised by S. Micera)
Florent-Valery Coen
Eleonora Martinelli
Valentina Paggi
Emilie Revol
Michael Shur
Yash Vyza
Kanglin Wu
Education
Ph.D.
INSA, Lyon, France
1998-2001
M.Sc.
Integrated Electronic Devices
INSA, Lyon France
1998
Publications
Infoscience publications
LSBI
Magnesium Test: Universal and Ultra-Sensitive Method for Measuring Reliability of Thin-Film-Encapsulated Bioelectronic Implants in Physiological Environment
Advanced Functional Materials. 2024-04-30. DOI : 10.1002/adfm.202315420.Optical Monitoring of Water Side Permeation in Thin Film Encapsulation
Advanced Materials. 2024-03-19. DOI : 10.1002/adma.202310201.Unraveling behavior and cortical signals to guide the development of soft neuroprostheses for auditory restoration and spreading depolarization
Lausanne, EPFL, 2024. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-10758.Water-permeation sensor and method for making the same
WO2024032870 . 2024.A spinal cord neuroprosthesis for locomotor deficits due to Parkinson's disease
Nature Medicine. 2023-11-06. DOI : 10.1038/s41591-023-02584-1.Liquid Metal-Based Sensor Skin Enabling Haptic Perception of Softness
Advanced Functional Materials. 2023-10-01. DOI : 10.1002/adfm.202308698.Decoding bladder state from pudendal intraneural signals in pigs
APL Bioengineering. 2023-10-01. DOI : 10.1063/5.0156484.A low-profile electromechanical packaging system for soft-to-flexible bioelectronic interfaces
APL Bioengineering. 2023-09-01. DOI : 10.1063/5.0152509.Radiation Patterns of RF Wireless Devices Implanted in Small Animals: Unexpected Deformations Due to Body Resonance
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems. 2023-08-01. DOI : 10.1109/TBCAS.2023.3300649.Radiation Performance of Antennas Implanted in Small Animals for Neuroengineering
2023-05-31. 2023 17th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), Florence, Italy, 26-31 March 2023. DOI : 10.23919/EuCAP57121.2023.10133552.Hydrogels and conductive hydrogels for implantable bioelectronics
Mrs Bulletin. 2023-05-19. DOI : 10.1557/s43577-023-00536-1.Deployment of an electrocorticography system with a soft robotic actuator
Science Robotics. 2023-05-10. DOI : 10.1126/scirobotics.add1002.Sensitivity to Pulse Rate and Amplitude Modulation in an Animal Model of the Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI)
Jaro-Journal Of The Association For Research In Otolaryngology. 2023-05-08. DOI : 10.1007/s10162-023-00897-z.Subdural Soft Electrocorticography (ECoG) Array Implantation and Long-Term Cortical Recording in Minipigs
Jove-Journal Of Visualized Experiments. 2023-03-01. DOI : 10.3791/64997.GaitSkin system: Wireless vibrotactile skin patch with gait tracker for sensorimotor conflict creation
2023-01-01. IEEE Sensors Conference, Vienna, AUSTRIA, OCT 29-NOV 01, 2023. DOI : 10.1109/SENSORS56945.2023.10325108.Neural Stimulation Hardware for the Selective Intrafascicular Modulation of the Vagus Nerve
Ieee Transactions On Neural Systems And Rehabilitation Engineering. 2023-01-01. DOI : 10.1109/TNSRE.2023.3329735.Soft bioelectronic technologies for selective and multimodal peripheral nerve interfaces
Lausanne, EPFL, 2023. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-10174.Unraveling the Electrochemical Electrode Coupling in Integrated Organic Electrochemical Transistors
Advanced Functional Materials. 2023-07-07. DOI : 10.1002/adfm.202302205.Engineering Hydrogel-coated Neural Interfaces for Chronic Deep Brain Recording
Lausanne, EPFL, 2023. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9752.In Liquido Computation with Electrochemical Transistors and Mixed Conductors for Intelligent Bioelectronics
Advanced Materials. 2023-02-22. DOI : 10.1002/adma.202209516.Revealing the complexity of ultra-soft hydrogel re-swelling inside the brain
Biomaterials. 2023-03-01. DOI : 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2023.122024.Targeted capillary photothrombosis via multiphoton excitation of Rose Bengal
Journal Of Cerebral Blood Flow And Metabolism. 2023-01-17. DOI : 10.1177/0271678X231151560.The neurons that restore walking after paralysis
Nature. 2022-11-09. DOI : 10.1038/s41586-022-05385-7.NeuralTree: A 256-Channel 0.227-mu J/Class Versatile Neural Activity Classification and Closed-Loop Neuromodulation SoC
Ieee Journal Of Solid-State Circuits. 2022-09-29. DOI : 10.1109/JSSC.2022.3204508.A finite element model of the mechanical interactions between peripheral nerves and intrafascicular implants
Journal Of Neural Engineering. 2022-08-01. DOI : 10.1088/1741-2552/ac7d0e.Recent Advances in Encapsulation of Flexible Bioelectronic Implants: Materials, Technologies, and Characterization Methods
Advanced Materials. 2022-07-20. DOI : 10.1002/adma.202201129.Epidural electrical stimulation of the cervical dorsal roots restores voluntary upper limb control in paralyzed monkeys
Nature Neuroscience. 2022-06-30. DOI : 10.1038/s41593-022-01106-5.Active force generation contributes to the complexity of spontaneous activity and to the response to stretch of murine cardiomyocyte cultures
Journal Of Physiology-London. 2022-06-23. DOI : 10.1113/JP283083.Comparison of Responses to DCN vs. VCN Stimulation in a Mouse Model of the Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI)
Jaro-Journal Of The Association For Research In Otolaryngology. 2022-04-05. DOI : 10.1007/s10162-022-00840-8.Preclinical upper limb neurorobotic platform to assess, rehabilitate, and develop therapies
Science Robotics. 2022-03-30. DOI : 10.1126/scirobotics.abk2378.Prevention of the foreign body response to implantable medical devices by inflammasome inhibition
Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America. 2022-03-22. DOI : 10.1073/pnas.2115857119.Chronic recording of cortical activit y underlying vocalization in awake minipigs
Journal Of Neuroscience Methods. 2022-01-15. DOI : 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2021.109427.Hands-on reservoir computing: a tutorial for practical implementation
Neuromorphic Computing And Engineering. 2022-09-01. DOI : 10.1088/2634-4386/ac7db7.A stretchable sensor for force estimation in soft wearable robots
2022-01-01. International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), Rotterdam, NETHERLANDS, Jul 25-29, 2022. DOI : 10.1109/ICORR55369.2022.9896479.On the Modeling of Organic Electrochemical Transistors
2022-01-01. Conference on Organic and Hybrid Sensors and Bioelectronics XV, San Diego, CA, Aug 21-22, 2022. p. 1221005. DOI : 10.1117/12.2633291.An All-Digital 1.25 Mbps 5-Subcarrier OFDM Backscatter Uplink with Delta-Sigma Modulation for Improved Spurious-Free Dynamic Range
2022-01-01. IEEE International Conference on RFID (IEEE RFID), Las Vegas, NV, May 17-19, 2022. p. 103-108. DOI : 10.1109/RFID54732.2022.9795980.An All-Digital 1 Mbps, 57 pJ/bit Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Backscatter ASIC in 65 nm CMOS
2022-01-01. IEEE International Conference on RFID (IEEE RFID), Las Vegas, NV, May 17-19, 2022. p. 109-113. DOI : 10.1109/RFID54732.2022.9795961.Thermodynamics of organic electrochemical transistors
Nature Communications. 2022-08-03. DOI : 10.1038/s41467-022-32182-7.Conformable neural interfaces : from engineering stretchability at the micro-scale to translational applications
Lausanne, EPFL, 2022. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8968.Method for labelling a device and devices obtanaible therefrom
US2023248471 ; EP4185367 ; WO2022017655 ; EP3943008 . 2022.Adaptive Wireless Power Transfer and Backscatter Communication for Perpetual Operation of Wireless Brain-Computer Interfaces
Proceedings Of The Ieee. 2022. DOI : 10.1109/JPROC.2021.3130059.Wireless closed-loop optogenetics across the entire dorsoventral spinal cord in mice
Nature Biotechnology. 2022. DOI : 10.1038/s41587-021-01019-x.Editorial overview: Tissue, cell and pathway engineering: bioinspired, biomimetic and hybrid neural interfaces
Current Opinion In Biotechnology. 2021-12-01. DOI : 10.1016/j.copbio.2021.11.008.Reactive Exercises with Interactive Objects: Interim Analysis of a Randomized Trial on Task-Driven NMES Grasp Rehabilitation for Subacute and Early Chronic Stroke Patients
Sensors. 2021-10-01. DOI : 10.3390/s21206739.Extended Barrier Lifetime of Partially Cracked Organic/Inorganic Multilayers for Compliant Implantable Electronics
Small. 2021-09-03. DOI : 10.1002/smll.202103039.Microscale Liquid Metal Conductors for Stretchable and Transparent Electronics
Advanced Materials Technologies. 2021-08-06. DOI : 10.1002/admt.202100690.Dimensional scaling of thin-film stimulation electrode systems in translational research
Journal Of Neural Engineering. 2021-08-01. DOI : 10.1088/1741-2552/abf607.Viscoelastic surface electrode arrays to interface with viscoelastic tissues
Nature Nanotechnology. 2021-06-17. DOI : 10.1038/s41565-021-00926-z.Compliant peripheral nerve interfaces
Journal Of Neural Engineering. 2021-06-01. DOI : 10.1088/1741-2552/abcdbe.A 16-Channel Wireless Neural Recording System-on-Chip with CHT Feature Extraction Processor in 65nm CMOS
2021-05-17. 2021 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC), Virtual, April 25-30, 2021. DOI : 10.1109/CICC51472.2021.9431458.Microfluidic-assisted bioprinting of tissues and organoids at high cell concentrations
Biofabrication. 2021-04-01. DOI : 10.1088/1758-5090/abca80.MRI-Compatible and Conformal Electrocorticography Grids for Translational Research
Advanced Science. 2021-03-08. DOI : 10.1002/advs.202003761.Neuroprosthetic baroreflex controls haemodynamics after spinal cord injury
Nature. 2021-01-27. DOI : 10.1038/s41586-020-03180-w.Recruitment of upper-limb motoneurons with epidural electrical stimulation of the cervical spinal cord
Nature Communications. 2021-01-19. DOI : 10.1038/s41467-020-20703-1.Soliton microcomb based spectral domain optical coherence tomography
Nature Communications. 2021-01-18. DOI : 10.1038/s41467-020-20404-9.CMOS-Inspired Complementary Fluidic Circuits for Soft Robots
Advanced Science. 2021-08-29. DOI : 10.1002/advs.202100924.Soft materials and technologies for neural interfaces
Lausanne, EPFL, 2021. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8813.Bioinspired Liquid Metal Based Sensing System For Compliance Detection
2021-01-01. 34th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), ELECTR NETWORK, Jan 25-29, 2021. p. 51-54. DOI : 10.1109/MEMS51782.2021.9375380.Adaptive Self-Sealing Suction-Based Soft Robotic Gripper
Advanced Science. 2021-07-03. DOI : 10.1002/advs.202100641.Electronic Skins for Healthcare Monitoring and Smart Prostheses
Annual Review Of Control, Robotics, And Autonomous Systems. 2021-01-01. DOI : 10.1146/annurev-control-071320-101023.Hybrid soft-rigid electrical interconnection system
US2024091528 ; JP7360642 ; AU2020368576 ; JP2022552636 ; EP4045135 ; CN114585413 ; AU2020368576 ; CA3151549 ; WO2021073828 . 2021.Guidelines to Study and Develop Soft Electrode Systems for Neural Stimulation
Neuron. 2020-10-28. DOI : 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.10.010.Nanoscale Controlled Oxidation of Liquid Metals for Stretchable Electronics and Photonics
Advanced Functional Materials. 2020-10-07. DOI : 10.1002/adfm.202006711.Epineural optogenetic activation of nociceptors initiates and amplifies inflammation
Nature Biotechnology. 2020-09-21. DOI : 10.1038/s41587-020-0673-2.Structured nanoscale metallic glass fibres with extreme aspect ratios
Nature Nanotechnology. 2020-08-03. DOI : 10.1038/s41565-020-0747-9.A biomimetic electrical stimulation strategy to induce asynchronous stochastic neural activity
Journal Of Neural Engineering. 2020-08-01. DOI : 10.1088/1741-2552/aba4fc.Soft Printable Electrode Coating for Neural Interfaces
ACS Applied Bio Materials. 2020-06-26. DOI : 10.1021/acsabm.0c00401.Conformable Hybrid Systems for Implantable Bioelectronic Interfaces
Advanced Materials. 2020-04-01. DOI : 10.1002/adma.201903904.Development and Evaluation of a Sensor Glove to Detect Grasp Intention for a Wearable Robotic Hand Exoskeleton
2020-01-01. 8th IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob), New York City, NY, Nov 29-Dec 01, 2020. p. 19-24. DOI : 10.1109/BioRob49111.2020.9224463.Stretchable cuff device
EP3986534 ; US2022249834 ; EP3986534 ; WO2020254915 . 2020.Integration of hybrid material systems in conformable neural interfaces
Lausanne, EPFL, 2020. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8096.Biomedical device comprising a mechanically adaptive member
US11628297 ; EP3682941 ; CN111450409 ; US2020230401 ; EP3682941 . 2020.Human Cochlear Nucleus on 7 Tesla Diffusion Tensor Imaging: Insights Into Micro-anatomy and Function for Auditory Brainstem Implant Surgery
Otology & Neurotology. 2020-04-01. DOI : 10.1097/MAO.0000000000002565.Soft, Implantable Bioelectronic Interfaces for Translational Research
Advanced Materials. 2020. DOI : 10.1002/adma.201906512.Gallium-Based Thin Films for Wearable Sensors and Electronic Skins
Lausanne, EPFL, 2020. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-7486.Closed-Loop Haptic Feedback Control Using a Self-Sensing Soft Pneumatic Actuator Skin
Soft Robotics. 2020. DOI : 10.1089/soro.2019.0013.Three-Dimensional Surface Reconstruction of the Human Cochlear Nucleus: Implications for Auditory Brain Stem Implant Design
Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B: Skull Base. 2020. DOI : 10.1055/s-0039-1677863.Microstructured thin-film electrode technology enables proof of concept of scalable, soft auditory brainstem implants
Science Translational Medicine. 2019-10-16. DOI : 10.1126/scitranslmed.aax9487.Gallium‐Based Thin Films for Wearable Human Motion Sensors
Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2019-08-06. DOI : 10.1002/aisy.201900079.Conformable bioelectronic interfaces: Mapping the road ahead
Science Translational Medicine. 2019-07-31. DOI : 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaw5858.Thin Hydrogel-Elastomer Multilayer Encapsulation for Soft Electronics
Advanced Materials Technologies. 2019-07-01. DOI : 10.1002/admt.201900331.Materials chemistry in flexible electronics
Chemical Society Reviews. 2019-03-21. DOI : 10.1039/c9cs90019e.Liquid electromigration in gallium-based biphasic thin films
Apl Materials. 2019-03-01. DOI : 10.1063/1.5059380.Harnessing the Rheological Properties of Liquid Metals To Shape Soft Electronic Conductors for Wearable Applications
Accounts of Chemical Research. 2019-02-04. DOI : 10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00489.First Biopotential Recordings from a Liquid Crystal Optrode
2019-01-01. Symposium on Clinical and Translational Neurophotonics 2020 held at SPIE BiO Conference, San Francisco, CA, Feb 01, 2020. p. 1122505. DOI : 10.1117/12.2544087.Soft And Wearable Transducers: Opportunities And Challenges For Daily Use
2019-01-01. 32nd IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (IEEE MEMS), Seoul, SOUTH KOREA, Jan 27-31, 2019. p. 65-65. DOI : 10.1109/MEMSYS.2019.8870770.Automatic clustering of spinal reflexes evoked by epidural electrical stimulation of the cervical spinal cord in non-human primates
2019. 2019 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Berlin, Germany, July 23-27, 2019.Patterned biphasic electrical conductor and methods for producing thereof
EP3462462 . 2019.Method for manufacturing hybrid soft-rigid electronic devices
WO2019219487 . 2019.When and why performance goals predict exploitation behaviors: An achievement goal complex analysis of the selection function of assessment
Motivation And Emotion. 2019-04-01. DOI : 10.1007/s11031-018-9742-y.Bi-Modal Control of Vacuum-Powered Soft Pneumatic Actuators with Embedded Liquid Metal-Based Strain Sensitive Skin
2019. Robosoft 2019, Seoul, South Korea, April 14-18, 2019. p. 217-221. DOI : 10.1109/ROBOSOFT.2019.8722810.Microchannel-based technologies for nerve interfacing
Lausanne, EPFL, 2019. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9425.Auditory brainstem stimulation with a conformable microfabricated array elicits responses with tonotopically organized components
Hearing Research. 2019. DOI : 10.1016/j.heares.2019.02.010.Soft microfabricated neural implants: a path towards translational implementation
Lausanne, EPFL, 2019. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9181.Soft multimodal neural interfaces for unravelling sensory neurological circuits
Lausanne, EPFL, 2019. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9046.Auditory Brainstem Implants: Recent Progress and Future Perspectives
Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2019. DOI : 10.3389/fnins.2019.00010.A Method to Form Smooth Films of Liquid Metal Supported by Elastomeric Substrate
Advanced Science. 2018-10-01. DOI : 10.1002/advs.201800256.Soft implantable neurotechnology: a translational perspective
GRC Neuroelectronic interfaces, Galveston, Texas, USA, 25-30 March 2018.Optical cuff for optogenetic control of the peripheral nervous system
Journal of Neural Engineering. 2018-01-10. DOI : 10.1088/1741-2552/aa9126.Long-term functionality of a soft electrode array for epidural spinal cord stimulation in a minipig model
2018. 2018 40th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC). DOI : 10.1109/EMBC.2018.8512584.Teaching & PhD
Teaching
Microengineering
Life Sciences Engineering
PhD Students
Braccia Angela, Erickson Scott Andrew, Fernández Lavado Emilio, Kolly Laurine, Liebi Luca Robert, Maulà Desirée, Palopoli Pietro,Past EPFL PhD Students
Akouissi Outman , Alwahab Noaf Salah Ali , Coen Florent-Valéry , Dejace Laurent Mirko , Fallegger Florian Dylan , Gribi Sandra , Guex Amélie Anne , Hirsch Arthur Edouard , Martinelli Eleonora , Medagoda Danashi Imani , Michaud Hadrien Olivier , Michoud Frédéric Pierre Gérald , Paggi Valentina Marie , Paulou Cédric Xavier , Revol Emilie Cornelia Maria , Romeo Alessia , Shur Michael , Vachicouras Nicolas , Vyza Yashwanth Sai Reddy , Wu Kangling ,Courses
Neural interfaces
Neural interfaces (NI) are bioelectronic systems that interface the nervous system to digital technologies. This course presents their main building blocks (transducers, instrumentation & communication), reviews current and upcoming materials and technological solutions for implantable & wearable NI