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Drill integrated neuro-monitoring for minimally invasive robotic cochlear implantation> Background

— Drill passes within 0.3 – 1 mm of facial nerve

> Facial nerve safety – preliminary work— Neuromonitoring for FN protection (detect FN proximity)— Optimal stimulation protocol determined in sheep— Custom neuromonitoring probe detects FN (<0.1 mm)

> Project Goal— Drill integrated stimulation for conitinuous FN monitoring

> Proposal— Protocol verification in humans (medical grade EMG device

required) (Neurosign device, 17000 CHF )— Drill bit insulation coating for integrated stimulation

electrodes (Student 2.5 months ~ 14,000 CHF)— Total budget 31,000 CHF, project duration 6 months

> Collaborators— Marco Caversaccio, Department of ENT, Unibe— Jorg Patscheider, Coatings department, Empa

Anode 1Anode 2Anode 3

Cathode

-1 0 10.10.30.5

1

1.5

Stim

ulus

thre

shol

d (m

A)

Axial distance (mm)

Sheep 2Trajectory 7LD = 0

d = 2d = 4d = 7Mono

FN

Juan Ansó, May 2015

NextStep - Scientific Collaboration04.05.2015 - Tobia Brusa, ISTB, University Bern

> Functional anatomy of Fecal Incontinence (FI) — Characterization of continence organ’s anatomy and biomechanics in

patients suffering from fecal incontinence (FI).— Prof. Dr. Med. Radu Tutuian, chief physician gastroenterology at

Tiefeneau Hospital Bern— Chf: ~30’000.-

> Extension of current Nano-Tera study aiming at defining design specifications of implant based on healthy volunteers.

> Main benefit: add clinical component to the project— Comprehensive assessment of contraction and compliance— Integration of imaging and functional data— Establishing normal (healthy subjects vs. patients)— Develop new treatment concepts

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Digital Ultrasound Head[UltrasoundToGo] Pascal Alexander Hager

Cable64‐256 coax

Image Sources:Ibmt.fraunhofer.de

healthcare.philips.comwww.akutron.com/products

Digital high‐speed link 

Project Scope

Transducer head Backend SystemAnalog Frontend Digital Processing

Conventional 2D Ultrasound System:

Piezoelectric Transducer Array

Frontend HDI PCB(commercial components)

Backend SystemFPGA Board

(Tablet/Smartphone)

Ultrasound DivisionFraunhofer IBMT

ETHZ IIS

Digital Processing

Goal:• Explore new digital ultrasound head concept.Collaboration:• Build two heads, collaborators provide parts• Funding (30k): PCB, Components, IBMT AssistanceTime Table:• 6 Month, 50% PhD Student IIS• 10% support personnel IIS/IBMT

largest ultrasound research unit Europe more than 20 years experience

Main collaborator: Tommaso Nardi, Laboratory of Composite and Polymer Technology, EPFL Planning work: Work with different polymers and methods for embedding GaAs NWs on equipment of Polymer Lab in EPFLOur part: provide test samples with nanowires, analysis of experiments with SEM, OM and other techniques.Collaborator part: provide new polymer materials, expertise of methods of embedding NWs in polymer, provide equipment for experimentsFunding: 5.000 chf

Flexible PDMS film helps to transfer GaAs nanowire forest from Si substrate to surface of c-Si solar cell

1st Idea: Reliability of NW-polymer composite

Problem with PDMS hardness –film with thickness 5 µm is very fragileSolution: perform search and analysis of different range of polymers with professional polymer chemist

New polymer material – UV curable polyester. • High transparence• Low viscosity• Good adhesion• Good hardness

Functional c-Si/GaAs nanowire tandem solar cell

Dmitry Mikulik, EPFL

2nd Idea: Reliability of GaAs NW solar cells by analyzing spectral and electrical characteristics

Main collaborator: Mikhail Mintairov, Photovoltaics Lab, Ioffe institute, RussiaPlanning work: Measurements and analysis of results of pilot devices in Photovoltaics lab in Ioffe instituteOur part: provide pilot devices based on GaAs NWs, organize joint workshop/visit to discuss resultsCollaborator part: provide different measurements of solar cells, analysis of measurementsFunding: 10.000 chf

Problem: Reliability of GaAs NW based solar cellsSolution: To realize perspective and weak points of GaAs NW based solar cell - spectral, electric and optical measurements must be performed.

Optical measurements: EQY – Initial

measurements Reflectance — give

information about surface quality

IQY - depends on structure and p-n junction optical properties

Electro-luminescence pattern determination at different temperatures:Could be applied to evaluate the uniformity of nanowires photo-electrical properties

T= 25C, J=100 mA/cm2 T= -190C, J=5 mA/cm2 T= -190C, J=5.5 mA/cm2

Electrical measurements: IV curves in a wide range of irradiance

allows to obtain a number of important characteristics:

Voc-Jsc dependence to form p-n junction IV curve

resistive losses IV as a difference between p-n junction and practical IV curve

GaAs p-i-n nanowires embedded in flexible PDMS film would play a role of second solar cell, placed on top of conventional c-Si solar cell

ITO

ITO

c‐Si solar cell

Sun light

PDMS

Functional c-Si/GaAs nanowire tandem solar cell

Dmitry Mikulik, EPFL

LBB‐ Conductive

polymers‐ Implantables

MNS‐Micro & Nanofabrication

‐ Wearables

APPROACH

• A portable EEG system (12k)• Biocompatibility studies (8k)• Clinical evaluation (10k)

FUNDING

Embedding conductivenanostructures in softsubstrates

PARTNERS

Soft & dry biopotential electrodes

GOAL

Contact: Moritz Thielen, thielenm@ethz.ch

Flurin Stauffer Moritz Thielen

MOTIVATION

• Wearable health monitoring• Brain‐computer interfaces• Poor performance of

commercial systemsEnobio from Neuroelectrics® 

Facial nerve neuro‐monitoring is used to improve the safety of drilling in the bone for DCA.

Bone electric properties required to predict the distance between drill bit and nerves.

Budget ~ 30’000 CHF  Cost of personnel & material Seed project towards snf proposal

Development of an impedance setup to study electric and electrochemical bone tissue properties.

Electro‐chemical effects Contact effects Voltage/frequency dependent Affected by the type of electrolyte

Better characterization of these effects Collaboration with Department of Chemistry and 

Biochemistry at University of Bern & University of Budapest (P. Broeckmann, H. Siegenthaler)

Setup for reliable measurement of the electrochemical properties (optimize stray capacitance, contact interface, signal/noise ratio, waveform…)

Thomas Wyss Balmer ISTB University of Berne