Camille Cunin Develops Soft Brain Electrodes After 5 Years of MIT Bioelectronics Research
Updated
Updated · MIT News · May 12
Camille Cunin Develops Soft Brain Electrodes After 5 Years of MIT Bioelectronics Research
1 articles · Updated · MIT News · May 12
Camille Cunin, who finished her MIT PhD in February after nearly 5 years, now researches implantable soft brain electrodes at a Boston-area startup to help develop future therapies.
Her work centers on flexible organic transistors that can detect weak neural signals while conforming to soft tissue, addressing the mismatch between rigid electronics and the body's hydrated, ion-driven environment.
A 2019 Massachusetts General Hospital internship shaped that focus after she saw a Parkinson's patient struggle with a tethered gut probe that ultimately failed, exposing the gap between lab concepts and usable devices.
At MIT, Cunin built polymer-metal multilayer composites—described as a crepe-cake or mille-feuille structure—that combine conductivity with stretchability; the work is in a preprint and has prompted a patent application.
The move into brain implants extends her stated goal of turning materials science into practical medical tools that improve patient outcomes by better understanding brain function.
As soft implants promise to decode the brain, what fundamental secrets of neural function still remain completely out of reach?
Can these breakthrough soft transistors be made cheaply enough to actually help the patients who first inspired their creation?
What hidden risks lie in merging these revolutionary soft 'crepe cake' electronics with the delicate tissues of the human brain?