People - MINES Saint-Étienne

Faculty and Staff

Charles Rezaei is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioelectronics (Bel) at the Ecole des Mines de Saint-Étienne. He did his Master’s degree in Systems Design jointly at Fachhochschule Kaernten (Austria) and the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in the Bioelectronics department at EMSE, where he worked on the development of organic photodetectors for neuroscience applications. Thereafter, he carried out postdoctoral research at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB) at the Collège de France. At CIRB he worked on developing algorithmic and machine learning approaches for analyzing in vivo 2-photon and micro-endoscopic imaging data, for the understanding of odor and place encoding in the mouse cortex. His research is focused on using electronic and opto-electronic materials for designing and developing novel biocompatible optical and electronic devices for interfacing neural networks in the brain. This process includes design, characterization and fabrication of high-performance probes to acquire and analyze neural data. The ultimate objective is to apply such devices in neuroscience and to translational medicine in order to improve diagnostics and treatments in neurodegenerative diseases.

charles.rezaei@emse.fr – +33 (0) 4 42 61 68 87

Esma Ismailova is an Associate Professor in the Bioelectronics Department at Ecole National Superieur des Mines de Saint-Etienne (EMSE). She received her BSc. in Physics at the National University of Uzbekistan and obtained a Master’s degree in Polymer Science at Strasbourg University in France where she also completed her PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Physics, working on the synthesis and characterization of polymers and their application in microelectronics. She then joined the Laboratory for Organic Electronics at Cornell University, NY, USA as a postdoctoral researcher, where she worked on understanding of the interface between biology and electronics. In 2010 she joined BEL as a postdoctoral fellow where she worked on developing microfabrication platform for soft biocompatible neural implants and advanced to becoming a permanent staff member in 2012. Her current research interests center around the development of organic electronic sensors for applications in healthcare using wearable smart textile systems. She is the leading organizer of the Electronic Textiles Symposia for the Materials Research Society in the USA and Europe. She is also the principal scientist in PIAVE AUTONOTEX project sponsored an BpiFrance (French Public Investment Bank) aiming to develop next generation of communicating and energy autonomous textiles for health monitoring in hospitals and in high-risk environments.

ismailova@emse.fr – +33 (0)4 42 61 66 46 – @Esma_Ismailova

David Moreau is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioelectronics at the Centre Microélectronique de Provence at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne (EMSE). He obtained a BSc and MSc in physics, specialized in photonics and electronics at the University of Limoges, France. He obtained his Ph.D. at the XLIM Research Institute (UMR CNRS 7252) in Limoges, France in Biophysics working on infrared neural stimulation and its underlying mechanism. Now, he is focused on the development and fabrication of a new generation of implantable neural devices, combining the use of microelectronics to assess neural activity and flexible waveguides to deliver infrared light with the aim of simultaneously stimulating neural activity with better spatial resolution.

david.moreau@emse.fr – +33 (0)4 42 61 68 77

Rod O’Connor is Head of the Department of Bioelectronics at the Centre Microélectronique de Provence and Full Professor. He received a B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc. in Neuroscience from Laurentian University in Canada. His doctoral research was carried out at the University of Cambridge, where he received a Ph.D. for his work investigating the influence of pulsed microwaves on neurons and cell physiology. Thereafter, he held a Marie Curie fellowship at the European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS) in Florence, Italy, applying multiphoton microscopy for in vivo imaging and femtosecond laser manipulation of the brain. He carried out postdoctoral training in electrophysiology and optogenetics at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus, VA, Boston University and Woods Hole, MA, USA. Before moving to BEL, he held a Labex Excellence Chair in Bioengineering at the XLIM Research Institute in Limoges, where he developed devices and applied advanced optical imaging tools to study the effects of ultrashort, intense pulsed electric fields on cancer in vitro and in vivo. He received his habilitation (HDR) in 2016. His research at BEL centers on the development of new neurotechnologies using organic electronic materials for interfacing with the brain, sensing and treating cancer (‘Oncoelectronics’). He is interested in the bioelectrical basis of disease and combining Bioelectronics, Bioelectrics and Neurophotonics approaches. He is an author of over 65 publications with an h-index of 21, according to Google scholar (2021).

rodney.oconnor@emse.fr – +33 (0)4 42 61 68 78 – @neurophoton

Research Engineers

Martin Baca is a Research and Development Engineer in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) at the Centre Microélectronique de Provence of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne. He completed a degree in electronics engineering at the Technical University of Košice, Slovakia in 2000. He gained industrial experience in software and hardware engineering for embedded systems working at various companies: Telegrafia s.r.o (Slovakia), and Meodat GmbH (Germany). Thereafter, he pursued his PhD in the Nano-bio-system research team at the Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany, where he gained experience with multielectrode arrays for cell culture, microfluidics, biophotonics, and organic chemistry. Following this, he carried out postdoctoral studies in the Neuroengineering group of UMR INSERM 1106 at Aix-Marseille University in Marseille, where he was responsible for developing electronic interfaces for OECT sensors for electrophysiology. He leads development of Neuroelectronics projects in BEL and is responsible for instrumentation, laboratory safety and training.

martin.baca@emse.fr – +33 (0)4 42 61 68 79

Postdocs

Sofia Drakopoulou is a postdoc in in the Department of Bioelectronics. She received her BSc. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Ioannina (Greece) where she also completed her Master’s degree in Polymer Science on the synthesis and characterization of conjugated polymers for organic photovoltaic applications. She then joined the Laboratory for Organic Electronics at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy) as a PhD student where she worked on the fabrication and the morphological characterization of organic thin films for applications in organic field effect transistors operated in air and in electrolyte, but as well as the optimization of their electronic response. Her postdoctoral research is focused on the development of organic electronic and optoelectronic devices for biomedical applications.

sofia.drakopoulou@emse.fr

Davide Reato is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT) at Aix-Marseille Université (AMU) and the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) at the École nationale supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne (EMSE). Davide obtained his bachelor and master in Physics in Italy. He then enrolled in a PhD program in Biomedical Engineering at The City College of New York, USA. There, he combined in-vitro experiments and computational models to elucidate the effects of low-amplitude electrical stimulation on neuronal populations. After a short postdoc in Neuroscience at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where he acquired skills in in-vivo electrophysiology and optogenetics, he then joined the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal. Supported by two postdoctoral fellowships (Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), he studied the behavior of mice performing decision making tasks and used machine learning techniques to study the link between neuronal activity and behavior. Funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship in 2023, at INT and BEL his research will combine computational models, electrical stimulation using conductive polymers and in-vivo imaging of distinct neuronal populations to study how electrical stimulation parameters can be optimized to shape neuronal activity and behavior in mice.
davide.reato@emse.fr

PhD Students

Théo Marchand is a CIFRE PhD student in bioelectronics which works as clinical research assistant in the company O-Kidia. He was graduated from Aix-Marseille University with a master’s degree in cognitive sciences (MaSCo). His company works on a multimodal tool to help diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders in children. The aim of his thesis is to assess the efficiency of mobile electroencephalographic devices for this transdisciplinary project.

theo.marchand@emse.fr

Seyedeh-Hajar Mousavi is a PhD student in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) at the Centre de Microélectronique de Provence of the the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint Etienne. She received a BS in applied physics at the University of Urmia (Urmia, Iran) and a MS in Nanophysics at the University of Isfahan (Isfahan, Iran). During her past research, she worked on syntheses and characterization of metal nanoparticles for biomedical applications such as drug delivery systems and fluorescent biosensors. Her PhD at Mines focuses on the design and microfabrication of neural electrodes for recording epileptic high frequency oscillations.

seyedeh.mousavi@emse.fr

Marie Lefevre is a PhD student in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) at the Centre de Microélectronique de Provence of the the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint Etienne. Marie completed her engineering degree at CPE Lyon in chemistry and process engineering in September 2017 with specialization in Life sciences and Biotechnology. Her PhD is focused on the development and application of organic electronic microelectrode arrays for detection and treatment of brain tumors.

marie.lefevre@emse.fr

Rémy Cornuéjols is a PhD student in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) at the Centre de Microélectronique de Provence of the the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint Etienne. He is passionate about medical technologies and biological discoveries. He has an engineering degree from the Ecole Centrale Marseille (ECM) and a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). His M.Sc. thesis regarding “Automatic Segmentation and Clustering of Sleep” was based on signal processing applied to Biomedical Signal. His passion in the biomedical field has led him to continue as a PhD student in the Bioelectronics department (BEL) of the Ecole des Mines de Saint Etienne (EMSE), under the supervision of Charles Rezaei and Christophe Bernard. The goal of his PhD project is to create a novel implantable “Neuroctopus”, a multimodal and multi-branch neurotech device able to simultaneously stimulate and record on different branches. The data recorded will then be studied using advanced data analysis methods.

remy.cornuejols@emse.fr

Marina Galliani is a PhD student in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) at the Centre de Microélectronique de Provence of the the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint Etienne.

She obtained a Bachelors degree in Biological Sciences and a Master’s degree in Industrial Biotechnology, both at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy). For her Master’s thesis, and during an internship performed with the Erasmus+ programme at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics of Linköping University (Sweden), she dedicated herself to investigating biosensors based on organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) for wound-status monitoring. She is doing her PhD with the research and technological organization ARMINES within the Borges (Biosensing with Organic Electronics) consortium, a project funded by ITN-Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. The goal of her project is to develop methodologies for manufacturing and integrating organic sensors on wearables and bioelectronics textiles for human health monitoring.

marina.galliani@emse.fr

Rita Matta is a PhD student in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) at the Centre de Microélectronique de Provence of the the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint Etienne.

She graduated from the Lebanese International University, Beirut, with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering. Previous projects included: Implementing a Python Version of Riemannian Artifact Subspace Reconstruction, to remove artifacts from EEG signals used for BCI (Brain Computer Interface), adapting the Artifact Subspace Reconstruction with tools dedicated to the processing of covariance matrices, called Riemannian Artifact Subspace Reconstruction (rASR). Another project was building a breathing rate monitoring device designed for patients suffering from sleep apnea, based on a conductive stretch sensor that detects the movements of the chest.
Her PhD focuses on the development and application of a flexible, implanted bioelectronic devices for electroporation and ablation in the brain for a mouse model of epilepsy.

rita.matta@emse.fr

Amélie Albon is a PhD student in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) at the Centre de Microélectronique de Provence of the the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint Etienne.

Amélie completed her engineering degree at CPE Lyon in chemistry and process engineering in September 2020 with specialization in Life sciences and Biotechnology. She works on project HearLight, where her PhD is focused on the development of flexible neural implants for electrical and optogenetic stimulation for auditory rehabilitation.

amelie.albon@emse.fr

Nathan Dumas is a PhD student in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) at the Centre de Microélectronique de Provence of the the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint Etienne. Nathan completed his engineering degree in electrical sciences at INSA Lyon in August 2021 with a specialization in conversion of electrical energy. He works on project BRAINSTORM pursuing the mechanisms of infrared stimulation in the central nervous system by recording electrical and optical signals in vitro and in vivo.

nathan.dumas@emse.fr

Recent Visitors

Zsófia Lantos is a visiting masters student in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) from the Fekete group of Implantable Microsystems at the Faculty of Information Technology & Bionics at Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary.

Anita Zátonyi is a visiting postdoc in the Department of Bioelectronics (BEL) from the Fekete group of Implantable Microsystems at the Faculty of Information Technology & Bionics at
Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary.

Yuja Yin is a final year engineer trainee from Mines Saint-Étienne’s ISMIN program in the Department of Bioelectronics, specializing in microelectronics and computer engineering. She completed her B.Sc in photonics and information science at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Nanjing,China) and an MEng in microelectronic design and bioelectronics from Mines Saint-Étienne. Her project focused on the development of a flexible neural stimulation interface for taste recovery funded by European Tetramax project Re:Taste, in partnership with INDI design.

yujia.yin@emse.fr

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