Deployable electrodes for minimally invasive craniosurgery

Sukho Song and Stéphanie Lacour with the deployable electrode. Credit: 2023 EPFL/ Alain Herzog. Scientists have developed electrode arrays that can be funneled through a small hole in the skull and deployed over a relatively large surface over the brain's cortex. The technology may be particularly useful for providing minimally invasive solutions for epileptic patients. Stephanie Lacour's specialty is the development of flexible electrodes that adapt to a moving body, providing more reliable connections with the nervous system. Her work is inherently interdisciplinary. So when a neurosurgeon asked Lacour and her team to come up with minimally invasive electrodes for inserting through a human skull, they came up with an elegant solution that takes full advantage of their expertise in compliant electrodes, and inspired by soft robotics actuation.