Nerea Alvarez de Eulate begins her PhD at IMB-CNM with an INPhINIT grant from the ”la Caixa” Foundation

One in three people suffers from some type of neurological condition, and many of them do not respond to current treatments. With the aim of finding alternative therapeutic solutions, Nerea Alvarez de Eulate is beginning her doctoral thesis at the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC), thanks to an InPHINIT grant from the ”la Caixa” Foundation. Her project focuses on the development of bioelectronic devices that integrate neural sensing and stimulation, adapted to the shape of the brain and with a thickness of a few microns.

The main challenge of this research is to advance towards closed-loop neuromodulation systems capable of adapting stimulation patterns to neural activity recorded in real time. In addition, “the project envisages the validation of these devices in relevant biological models in order to demonstrate their therapeutic potential,” she explains in an interview.

This line of work is part of the Biomedical Applications Group at the IMB-CNM, which has a solid track record in graphene-based neurotechnologies. Researchers Anton Guimerà Brunet and Jose Antonio Garrido (from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, ICN2) will be the thesis supervisors.

Nerea Alvarez, who has a background in biomedical engineering and joined the institute as a technician, chose the IMB-CNM for its scientific excellence, its specialized infrastructure—such as the Clean Room—and the group's experience in micro- and nanotechnologies applied to health. “It is a very active and stimulating line of research, with both local and international collaborations,” she says. This is yet another example of the IMB-CNM's commitment to cutting-edge research in health technologies.

INPhINIT scholarships reinforce María de Maeztu excellence at the IMB-CNM

The INPhINIT Incoming program of the ”la Caixa” Foundation offers 30 highly competitive scholarships for young researchers from around the world who wish to pursue their doctorate in STEM disciplines at centers of research excellence in Spain and Portugal.

These fellowships go hand in hand with the Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu accreditations of excellence, which recognize the centers with the greatest scientific impact and innovation in the country. Thanks to this distinction, the IMB-CNM is part of a select group of institutions that can host INPhINIT doctoral students, consolidating its position as a competitive and internationally renowned environment in the field of micro- and nanoelectronics.

With this synergy between the INPhINIT program and María de Maeztu Excellence, the IMB-CNM reinforces its commitment to training research talent, attracting international interest, and generating cutting-edge knowledge.