Nanoscale quantum sensing at electrode interfaces for implantable devices

Project ID: 2531ad1568

(You will need this ID for your application)

UCL Lead department: Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering

Project Summary:

Quantum sensors use quantum mechanical effects for high sensitivity, high spatial resolution measurements of their local environment. The nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond can be hosted in nanoparticles and addressed optically, ideal for biochemical measurements at interfaces and in biological tissues.

Active neural interfaces provide dramatic clinical benefits e.g. in drug resistant Parkinson’s disease. However, therapeutically effective electrical stimulation levels in modern miniature devices induce electrode and tissue damage. Current electrode characterisation methods fail to capture the rapid, non-uniform, and localised electrochemical changes occurring at electrode surfaces, and therefore cannot inform the development of safer and more effective neural interfaces.

This project will use quantum sensing with nanodiamonds proximal to neural electrode surfaces to investigate electrochemical damage mechanisms during electrical neural stimulation. The project will have two aspects: 1) development of quantum sensing technologies biomedicine, 2) specific application to investigate corrosion mechanisms.

This is a highly interdisciplinary project, you will gain expertise designing and building high-speed optics experiments, software engineering, neural interface manufacture and characterisation, chemical and biological processing in wet labs, nanoparticles handling, functionalisation and characterisation. There will be scope to adapt the project to student interests.

You will be working with Dr Benjamin Miller (ben.miller@ucl.ac.uk) and Dr Henry Lancashire (h.lancashire@ucl.ac.uk), in the Medical Physics and Nanotechnology Departments.

You will have the opportunity to collaborate with and contribute to the £24m Quantum Research Hub for Healthcare (www.qbiomed.org.uk), collaborate cross-faculty at UCL, and with clinical and other university partners.

The PhD position would suit applicants with undergraduate or master’s degrees in physics, medical physics, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, or other relevant area, and have a 1st, 2:1 or equivalent. Programming skills, lab work and scientific writing experience are desirable. The applicant should be interested in acquiring skills and knowledge in physics, optics, engineering, chemistry, and biology, towards working comfortably across disciplines.