• Early Stage Researcher 13 (ESR 13) name:  Ivânia Trêpo

Email address: trepo@atlasneuro.com

Personal Information:

Ivânia Trêpo studied Microelectronics and Nanotechnology Engineering at the Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal. Meanwhile, Ivânia also did some internships in the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (2018, Braga - Portugal) and in Fraunhofer IWS (2018 - Dresden, Germany). Her Master Thesis entitled “Transparent and flexible ECoG electrode arrays of metallic nanostructures for neural recordings”, developed in CENIMAT|i3N & Champalimaud Foundation, was awarded with the “Sociedade Portuguesa dos Materiais Award” being distinguished as the best Portuguese Master Thesis in Materials Science. Nowadays, Ivânia's main focus is developing deep brain probe's systems for non-human primate research.

LinkedIn: ivania-trepo

• Host Institution: ATLAS Neuroengineering & University of Freiburg - IMTEK  

• Supervisors: Dr A. Aarts, Dr P. Ruther, Prof. O. Paul  

• Project title: Design and development of a chronic, long-term stable, drivable, deep brain probe system for non-human primates

• Project description:

The implantable system contains a drivable shaft holding several microelectrodes that end-up in a compact recording chamber mounted on the skull. The chamber contains a compact interconnect solution that interfaces the microelectrodes as well as a micro-drive mechanism to reposition the microelectrodes. The probe device includes recording and stimulation capabilities, i.e. in electrical, optical and/or fluidic domain.

Contact: email Dr Aarts, email Dr Ruther

More information: 

• ATLAS Neuro 
• Department of Microsystems Engineering, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg

• Secondments:

(1) Hospices Civils de Lyon, 04-06-2022 to 02-07-2022

My background is Microelectronics and Nanotechnology Engineering, and I’m currently working in the Neuroengineering field. Therefore, bridging the gap between these two fields – Engineering and Neuroscience – appears to be very important in the scope of my PhD project. My activities consisted of visiting some labs (with different animal models: rodents, macaque monkeys and rabbits), working alongside some neuroscientists, and perform magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on some probes and materials I work with. I was also lucky enough to observe a neurosurgery where brain electrodes were implanted on a human patient. One of the aspects that inspired me the most was the symbiosis between the field of neuroscience and engineering, and the amazing outcomes and findings that can result from this collaboration. This secondment was crucial to foster idea discussion, to receive feedback from a neuroscientific perspective of the neural probe I am developing, and especially to learn a lot from several researchers working on different projects. Overall, my stay at Hospices Civils de Lyon was an enriching and productive experience from both a professional and personal point of view.

Selfie of ESR 13 before entering the operatory room to observe electrode implantation on a human patient.

(2) University of Newcastle, spread over June 2023, October 2023 and July 2024

(3) Aix-Marseille University

(4) FORTH Foundation for Research and Technology