21 September 2022 Article in newspaper De Tijd about our collaboration with Micledi Microdisplays and Qustomdot:
14 July 2022
Our master thesis student Yao-Tung Chang (aka “Shake”) received the best thesis award for his work on optical isolators for photonic integrated circuits.
26 October 2021: (job offer expired)
Postdoctoral position in Biomedical Optics
Be responsible for the execution of a research and innovation project at CMST
Apply online through the UGent e-recruitment system:
https://www.ugent.be/en/work/research-staff (vacature 20964).
3 May 2021: (job offer expired)
Two joint UGent-VUB PhD positions in Photonics have become available: optical interconnects and laser
dynamics for wavelength division multiplexing.
Apply now via the
EURAXIS website.
17 February 2021:
Congratulations to Pablo Pérez Merino and Matthew McDonald who have been selected
for the very competitive and prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship was awarded to Matt McDonald for the project THINPAC
(Thin flexible hermetic packaging of ultra-thin silicon chips for high-density neuro electronic implantable devices)
Project abstract:
Microelectronic medical implants with superior performance are needed to improve quality of life for patients.
For neuroelectronic applications, this will be enabled through miniaturisation of large numbers of high-density
electrodes in biomimetic packages. The leading solution is to use ultra-thin silicon chips embedded in flexible
polymers with small flexible ribbon cables. The primary aim of THINPAC is to realize a robust technology
platform for ultra-thin flexible hermetic packaging of thinned CMOS chips using alternating layers of ceramic
nanofilms and polyimide. Innovation beyond existing FITEP-based fabrication technology is needed to ensure
long term hermeticity, biostability, and flexibility of electronic implants.
(FITEP: CMSTs platform regarding the fabrication of ‘Flexible implantable Thin Electronic Packagaing’).
Finally, functional probes for implantation into peripheral nerves will be fabricated and fully characterized in
rats for foreign body reaction and electrophysiology. The project will run for 2 years.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship was awarded to Pablo Pérez Merino for the project GRAVITEYE
(Implantable flexible electro-active sensing platform for smart intraocular applications).
Project abstract:
The GRAVITEYE project will develop a smart intraocular implant based on novel biomedical sensing technologies
to monitor the IOP (Intra Ocular Pressure) dynamics, track the pulsatile fluctuations and decipher the intraocular
fluid motion. The integrated platform will be encapsulated in a commercial intraocular lens and include (i) bio-fitted
flexible sensors, (ii) ultrathin-film stretchable interconnections and (iii) a Radio-Frequency antenna for wireless
powering and communication. The project will run for 2 years.
4 September 2020: Imec and Ghent University Present a Smart Contact Lens Mimicking the Human Iris to Combat Eye Deficiencies.
On September 4, the first performance assessment of our artificial iris was reported in
Scientific Reports (pdf), a Nature
publication. Resulting from a collaboration between our group and the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria
Fundación Jiménez Díaz (Madrid, Spain) the paper demonstrates that a smart contact lens with our
artificial iris has the potential
to expand the visual sharpness, decrease optical aberrations and reduce the amount of light entering the eye in a dynamic
manner. Thanks to the fruitful collaboration with Holst Centre (an open innovation initiative from imec and TNO, the
Netherlands), we can also present an autonomous prototype that will be further developed into a medical device
within the framework of the spin-off incubation initiative Azalea Vision, from imec and Ghent University.
More links:
→
Forbes - This Smart Contact Lens Is Already In Clinical Trials At Ghent University In Belgium.
→
imec.
→
UGent-ELIS - Slimme contactlens vervangt iris. (dutch)
→
Medgadget - Artificial Iris Inside Smart Contacts Corrects Vision Disorders.
→
News Break - Imec develops artificial iris.
→
International Business Times - Scientists Develop Smart Contact Lens with Artificial Iris to Treat Eye Diseases.
→
EOS - Contactlens vervangt iris. (dutch)
→
Datanews - Imec en UGent stellen slimme contactlens met kunstmatige iris voor. (dutch)
12 February 2020:
Congratulations to our colleague Marie-Aline Mattelin for winning the Best Student Paper award
at Photonics West 2020 with the paper “Fabrication and replication of high efficiency blazed
gratings with grayscale electron beam lithography and UV nanoimprint lithography”.
11 February 2020:
The imec.icon research project I-CART ( ⇒
project website)
has been succesfully completed. You can see the end results of the project in
this video (click image for video - dutch narrated).
4 February 2020:
Congratulations to our colleague Maarten Cauwe for winning the Best International Paper award
at IPC APEX 2020 with “High-Density PCB Technology Assessment for Space Applications”
More information can be found on the IPC
website.
5 December 2019:
The Nano4sports project, of which cmst is a partner, has published a magazine with an overview of the realisations of the project.
You can read the magazine online
here (issuu.com).
More information (in dutch) can be found on the project website:
Nano4sports
7 November 2019:
A new article has been published about the work we have been performing for the Flexlines project: Over-moulding of electronic functionalities on flexible polyimide-copper substrates.
Click image to read the article on the Flexlines project website: .
26 September 2019:
Watch our new film about E-Textiles Research in our lab (in cooperation with the
Textirama Foundation):
Click image to watch the film on youtube: .
15 Augustus 2019:
The july 2019 edition of imec magazine contains an article
on our research on smart textiles: Smart cycling outfit prevents back pain in riders.
You can read the full article
here.
23 April 2019:
Cmst takes part in the H2020 Aquarius project which aims to provide an on- and inline capable mid-IR optical sensing for industrial
waste water and drinking water monitoring (click image to watch movie).
More information can be found on the project website:
AQUARIUS.
1 February 2019:
The new Horizon 2020 ELEVATE project for the ‘EarLy dEtection of cerVical cAncer in hard-to-reach populations of women
through portable and point-of-care HPV Testing’, has started. The ELEVATE project develops and tests a multi-disciplinary
intervention to improve the cervical cancer screening coverage of hard-to-reach women in Europe and the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States. This project combines fundamental scientific research with social science investigations,
and technology development. At the core of this project is the development and pilot testing of a portable, point-of care
human papillomavirus testing device that yields rapid, easy-to-understand results for use in low-resource settings
(i.e. without relying on electrical outlets or trained health personnel).
The ELEVATE consortium of nine partners- led by ICRH and CMST of the UGent- will receive 3.3 million Euro from the
European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme to execute this project over five years (2019-2023).
More information will follow.
30 May 2018:
The may 2018 edition of imec magazine contains an article
about our research on optical sensors: Here’s how to make materials ‘feel pain’.
You can read the full article
here.
27 June 2017:
Our ex-colleague Jelle De Smet
has made the list of the most brilliant Innovators Under 35
(published by MIT Technology Review)
for his work at the EYEco-eyeCO spin-off.
9 June 2017:
The first newsletter of the Aquarius-project has been published. The
first
issue of includes some main project information and the concept and provides an overview on the individual work
packages and their progress within the first few project months.
9 June 2017:
CMST is one of the research groups that participates in the new expertise center for Nano-and Microfabrication “Namifab”.
More information about the mission and capabilities of Namifab can be found on their
website.
1 June 2016: Successful development of an ultrathin flexible hermetic packaging technology
In the frame of Darpa’s HAPTIX development activities, research is performed to develop a system for
a thought driven control of a bionic arm. Imec is taking part in these activities by its IMPRESS project,
coordinated by the University of Florida. Imec’s role is the design and fabrication of a flexible,
miniaturized electronic device for implantation in the peripheral nerves. This neural probe is carrying many
electrodes for recording as well as stimulation and allows for a direct communication between the nerve
system and the bionic arm. CMST plays an important role in this project by its development of an ultrathin
flexible hermetic packaging technology for the implantable neural probe.
For more information click
here.
This work was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Biological Technologies
Office under the auspices of Dr. Doug Weber through the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Pacific
Grant/Contract No. N66001-15-C-4018 to the University of Florida.
23 November 2016:
The CMST website has been redesigned! The website uses the new design developed for
‘200 years Ghent University’, and we have updated and improved
all of the information on our site.
12 November 2016:br />
Announcement: Smart Optics workshop, December 19th, 2016.
This workship will present the main results from the
Secondos project and offer an outlook to possible next steps
towards products. This research was subsidized by VLAIO. More information
can be found here.
23 Oktober 2016:
A new ACTPHAST promotional video which includes testimonials from ACTPHAST supported companies, is available.
The movie and full testimonials are also available on the new ACTPHAST website:
http://www.actphast.be
8 October 2014. CMST appeared in an episode
of 'Inside Out' (Tech Fusion) on Discovery
Channel. Click on the image below to see some
screenshots!
18 February 2014. The stretchable optical
interconnect technology from the
polymer photonics and laser technology group
was covered in a news release by The Optical
Society. Link :
7 November 2013. Pieter De Backer has been
nominated for the 2012-2013 'The Flemish
Dissertation Award' for his dissertation
"Design and manufacturing of a switchable
artificial iris" (Promotors H. De Smet en D.
Cuypers). This award brings dissertations to the
attention of newspapers, magazines and other
media. Entered dissertations will also be
included in the Dissertation Bank, which can
help students secure their future career.
Links :
22 October 2013. Jelle De Smet has been
nominated for the first ever 'Golden Pipette
Award'. This award was instituted by the
popular science magazine "EOS" to celebrate the
magazine’s 30th anniversary. The award
celebrates the scientific achievement of the
year, performed by a young scientist.in the
category Academics. The winner will be announced
during a ceremony on the 24th of November 2013.
Links :
22 August 2013. Over the last 8 1/2 months, our recent progress in 'smart
contact lens' technology was covered in the specialized and even
mainstream news media. It all started on
December 5th, 2012 with a routine scientific
press announcement by imec, accompanied by a
live demonstration of a simple yet evocative
'contact lens display'. The lens-shaped,
spherically curved display, although merely
being able to switch on and off a dollar
sign, is so appealing that the mainstream
news agencies take over the story. On the
same day, the Flemish-Belgian public TV
('Eén'), a business oriented TV channel
('Kanaal Z') and 2 mainstream Dutch radio
stations ('Radio1' and 'BNR Nieuwsradio')
broadcast interviews with our researchers.
The next day, the item is printed in many
major Belgian newspapers and starts to
appear in technology blogs and online news
sites worldwide. The coming days and weeks,
several TV crews visit our lab to shoot
footage of the 'dollar sign lens': AVS
(Flemish-Belgian), RTL-TVi (French-Belgian),
Inter-TV (Ukrainian), CNC (Chinese). A short
movie that we posted on YouTube attracts
more than 200'000 hits in a week time and is
presently above 300'000. This is a short and
incomplete list of relevant links: