The Microelectronics department at the Delft University of Technology investigate and design active biomedical microsystems
The Microelectronics department is part of the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, at the Delft University of Technology. Microelectronics is fundamentally a multi-disciplinary field of research, exploring the physics, materials and chemistry required to make devices work. It is also multidisciplinary with regard to its wide variety of applications, as it plays a crucial role in all fields of innovation, ranging from advanced health care to telecommunications and smart grids. The ever-increasing demand for processing power, sensing capabilities and miniaturisation makes microelectronics a highly innovative research field. With a staff of about 30 fte faculty and over 180 fte scientific staff, the Department of Microelectronics is a worldwide leader in this broad field, and combines the expertise of 7 research groups in Electrical Engineering. The complete field of electronics is covered, including signal processing, radar, and telecommunication. Within the Microelectronics department, the Bioelectronics section has the mission to discover new technology for the successful monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of cortical, neural, cardiac and muscular disorders by means of electroceuticals. Dr. Costa’s group focuses on ultrasound microsystems for precise neuromodulation of the nervous system, both for neuroscientific discoveries and for translational therapies.
About Dr. Tiago Costa’s research
Since October 2019 Dr. Costa is an Assistant Professor at the Delft University of Technology, in the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, where he leads a research group in the Microelectronics department. Dr. Costa’s group researches novel integrated circuits and microsystem integration techniques for minimally invasive and precise interfaces with the nervous system for the treatment of neurological and immunological diseases. In particular, the group pursues the co-design of CMOS chips with piezoelectric ultrasound transducers to develop power-efficient and high-performing ultrasound neuromodulation devices. These devices are tailored to two types of applications: firstly, to the neuroscience and biophysics of ultrasound neuromodulation, both in allowing new scientific discoveries exploring the potential of focused ultrasound, and unveiling the fundamental mechanisms of how ultrasound modulates neuronal activity; secondly, on translational focused ultrasound devices tor pre-clinical validation and clinical translation.