New-Tech Europe | April 2018

is only the beginning. As we continue with the program, I am con-vinced more new collaborative research opportunities will arise.” Authors: Jordi Cools Jordi Cools obtained his degree in Biomedical Sciences with a Master focused in Bioelectronics & Nanotechnology. As a fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), he worked from 2012 to 2017 as a PhD researcher in the Cell and Tissue Technologies group of imec’s Life Sci-ences department. He currently works as a Neural Engineer for Neuro- Electronics Research Flanders (NERF). Dries Braeken Dries Braeken obtained his Masters degree in biomedical sciences and his PhD in medical sciences from the KU Leuven, Belgium, in 2004 and 2009

respectively. From 2009 to 2012 he worked as senior scientist in imec's bioelectronics group. In 2012 he went on to become R&D team leader in the life sciences technology department, and in 2017 he be-came R&D manager and group leader.

the gripper arms. Fur-thermore, future electrodes could be equipped with small needles to enable intracellular recordings or coated with drugs for drug screening or discovery. “A large contributor to the success of this project was the excellent col- laboration with the Gracias Lab in JHU,” comments Dries Braeken, R&Dmanager Life Sciences and supervisor of Jordi’s PhD. “It underlines the importance of fostering research ties with our partners. One of these joint efforts is the summer internship program in which we host every year three to five JHU students to work in the imec labs. While they learn about our facilities and know-how, in turn we get familiar with the ex-pertise of the JHU labs. That is how new science ideas take shape. The gripper-project is a successful illustration of this: what started off as a 10-week summer program, turned into a long-lasting collaboration. And it

Jordi Cools, a Neural Engineer for Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders (NERF).

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