Two engineering professors win Melexis grants
(L-R) IEM Director Jean-Philippe Thiran, Professor Hatice Altug, Professir Adrian Ionescu, and Melexis CEO Marc Biron © 2024 EPFL/Melexis CC BY SA
Adrian Ionescu and Hatice Altug will receive funding from Melexis to develop sensors in the field of digital health. They were selected following a call for projects conducted as part of the industrial affiliation program offered by the Institute of Electrical and Micro Engineering (IEM).
In 2023, the IEM in the School of Engineering launched an industrial affiliation program (IEM-IAP) with the aim of creating long-term relationships with companies. A world leader in sensors for automotive applications, Belgian company Melexis is the first member of the program to benefit from its advantages. The Swiss branch of Melexis employs about 80 people, and is home to Melexis Innovation Lab.
As part of their collaboration, Melexis and the IEM launched a call for projects in the field of sensors for health and well-being. The aim was to explore innovative solutions for improving the accuracy, reliability, and accessibility of health data using nano- and microsystems.
Thanks to this funding program of around CHF 200,000 per project, EPFL scientists will have the opportunity to work on applications with high potential societal impact, while benefiting from Melexis' expertise in the development of new products and industrial solutions.
On May 8, during a visit to EPFL by Melexis CEO Marc Biron and a company delegation, the two winners of the first call for projects were announced. The selection was made by a jury comprising three IEM professors and three Melexis research collaborators.
Adrian Ionescu, head of the Nanoelectronic Devices Laboratory (Nanolab), was selected for his proposal “Real-time monitoring of stress hormone with wearable graphene sensors in the interstitial fluid”. Hatice Altug, head of the Bionanophotonic Systems Lab (BIOS), was selected for her project, “Optoelectronic on-chip plasmonic biosensor enabled by quantum tunneling based light emission”.