Tuesday, 15 December 2020
Prof. Kostarelos and Dr Aguilar talk about graphene and neural interfaces on SKRAPS
Prof. Kostas Kostarelos, leader of the ICN2 Nanomedicine group, and Dr Carolina Aguilar, CEO of the INBRAIN Neurolectronics company, have been interviewed in a recent episode of the SKRAPS podcast programme. They talked about the great properties of graphene, medical applications of this extraordinary material, as well as their personal journey in research and business.
Discovering significant stories of science and innovation, told by the protagonists themselves, is the purpose of the SKRAPS podcast, a series of fascinating interviews held by the hosts, Arun Sridhar and JoJo Platt. Prof. Kostas Kostarelos, leader of the ICN2 Nanomedicine group and professor at the University of Manchester, and Dr Carolina Aguilar, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of the INBRAIN Neuroelectronics company — an ICN2’s spin-off, whose other CEO and founder is Prof. José Garrido, leader of the ICN2 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices group — participated in a recent episode titled “Scoring three-pointers with graphene”.
They talked about their career and the journey that led both of them, along different paths, to work with graphene and its medical applications. Graphene, a two-dimensional material which exhibits extraordinary properties, can be used to build neural interfaces that can contribute to restore biological functions, such as speech and vision, in patients who have suffered serious damage to the organs involved in them. By providing two different viewpoints, Prof. Kostarelos and Dr Aguilar also explained the long process of translating an idea into research results, prototypes and products to be commercialized, in particular in the biomedical field, where clinic translation protocols have to be followed.