Establishing a reliable bidirectional communication interface between the nervous system and electronic devices is crucial for exploiting the full potential of neural prostheses. Despite recent advancements, current microelectrode technologies evidence important shortcomings, e.g. challenging high density integration, low signal-to-noise ratio, poor long-term stability, etc. Thus, efforts to explore novel materials are essential for the development of next-generation neural prostheses. Graphene and graphene-based materials possess a rather exclusive set of physicochemical properties holding great potential for biomedical applications, in particular neural prostheses. In this presentation I will provide an overview on fundamentals and applications of several graphene-based technologies and devices aiming at developing an efficient bidirectional communication with electrogenic cells and nerve tissue. The main goal of this talk is to discuss pros and cons of graphene technologies for bioelectronics and neuroprosthetics, and at the same time to identify the main challenges ahead.

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Bio

Jose A. Garrido is an ICREA Research Professor at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), and head of the Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices group. He received a master and PhD degree in Telecommunication Engineering from the Technical University of Madrid. He has a habilitation degree by the Technische Universität München, where he held a privatdozent position in the Physics Department until 2015. Currently, Jose A. Garrido is Deputy of the Biomedical Technologies workpackage of the EU Graphene Flagship and coordinator of the FET Proactive project BrainCom. His research focuses on 2D materials and their applications in bioelectronics.