José Antonio Garrido

José Antonio Garrido Ariza
Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), Barcelona
Project Leader

Adaptive retinal implant technology for vision restoration.

• Mokhtar Chmeissani
  Institut de Física d'Altes Energies (IFAE), Barcelona

• Pablo Loza Álvarez
  Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO), Barcelona

• Jeroni Nadal Reus
  Fundació Barraquer, Barcelona

• Serge Picaud
  Institut de la Vision (Sorbonne Université), Paris

Arrays of porous graphene-based microelectrodes have been fabricated and tested on both rigid and flexible substrates. Microelectrode arrays on transparent rigid substrates have been used to assess the capabilities of the graphene technology to record and stimulate activity from retinal explants. Using miniature flexible microelectrode arrays, rats were implanted with retinal devices to explore retinal stimulation parameters (electrode size, stimulation amplitude and frequency); we demonstrated the efficiency of these microelectrodes in inducing cortical activity comparable to that evoked by normal light stimulation. In addition to the small animal implants, we have designed and evaluated the surgical procedure in large animals (pigs), with the goal of preparing the study of human-size retinal implants.

On the electronics front, we have designed and tested an ASIC (4mm x 3mm) capable of stimulating with over 1000 microelectrodes. This ASIC is currently being integrated in a fully implantable device which will be tested in large animals before the end of the project. The high count of electrodes is needed in order to achieve retinal stimulation with enhanced visual acuity.

In addition, we have developed a scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AO-SLO) imaging system to provide eye fundus images in large field of view and also with high resolution adaptive optics. The system has been calibrated, motorized, and compacted and tested, and can be used to collect relevant information of the implanted devices.

Jose Antonio Garrido is an ICREA research professor, vice-director and leader of the Group of Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices (AEMD) of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2).

He received his Master’s and PhD degrees in Telecommunication Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 1996 and 2000, respectively. From 2001 to 2004 he worked as a postdoc at the Walter Schottky Institute, Technische Universität München (Germany). He obtained his habilitation in experimental physics at this university in 2010 and from 2011 to 2015 held a lecturer position at its department of physics. In 2015 Jose A. Garrido joined the ICN2, where he leads the AEMD Group and, since 2017 he is also deputy director. Since 2019, he is co-founder and CSO (Chief Scientific Officer) of InBrain Neuroelectronics. (Read full CV).

Interested in fundamental electronic and electrochemical phenomena of novel materials, with a current particular emphasis on graphene and other 2D materials (e.g. MoS₂), and to develop the fabrication and processing technologies necessary to prepare advanced electronic devices and systems based on them. A major focus of our work are applications related to neural interfaces and neuroelectronics.

Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2)
UAB Campus, Bellaterra (Barcelona)
08193, Spain
Tel.: (+34) 93 737 46 17

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @AEMD_ICN2